Latest news with #workplaceSafety
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Agonizing final moments of factory worker crushed to death in tire press revealed in report
A harrowing report into the death of a man whose head was crushed inside a tire press has revealed his agonizing final moments, along with dozens of safety failures at the factory where he worked. Marshall Hunt was sucked into a McNeil Akron Bag-o-Matic tire curing press at the Hoosier Racing Tire factory in Plymouth, a small town in northern Indiana, on February 7. 'Mr. Hunt's head was caught in the closed press, trapped between the heat shields of the tire curing press at the neck, and employees could not open it,' according to a nearly 800-page report from the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration (IOSHA). He died from blunt force trauma to the head and neck, according to the Marshall County Coroner. The 30-year-old left behind his two young sons, his longtime partner and a family whose grief has been compounded by the fact his death was avoidable, according to IOSHA. The state agency, which is responsible for enforcing OSHA rules in Indiana, uncovered a litany of failures at the plant, including an inadequate safety bar around the tire press which Hunt died on. 'This was waiting to happen to somebody,' Harmony Mahler, Marshall's sister, told Daily Mail. 'They were fined $7,000 for my brother's death. That's it. What motivation is there for them to have a safe environment? Everyone in that company's life is in danger, and they don't care because there's no recourse,' she said. GRAPHIC: In a police photo provided to IOSHA, Marshall is seen slumped over next to the tire press after employees lifted the machine up off him 'This is unlike any other experience I've gone through,' Marshall's brother Alexander added. 'This is universe shattering. Everything I've ever known in my entire life feels inside out and flipped upside down now. And yes, it does still feel like that.' Alexander, 35, said he was staying at his father's house when he got the call at 'three or four in the morning' on the day Marshall died. 'I pretty much collapsed to the floor,' he said. 'I was choking on my own words.' A Hoosier employee named Ethan Paul Keller was the first to notice that Marshall was caught in the machine, according to a police report obtained by Daily Mail. Keller told police he was working on a tire press in the same line as Marshall and saw him 'slumped over the press'. At first, Keller thought Marshall was looking at a pressure gauge, but he looked again a little while later and saw that his coworker was in the same position, according to the police report. That's when he went over and saw that Marshall's head was stuck in the press, police said. The tire press that Marshall got stuck in is pictured in the upright position hours after his death Managers were alerted and they rushed to the area with a manual override key that can immediately lift the press in an emergency situation. Officer Jesse Witkowski arrived on the scene shortly after the press was lifted and saw Marshall lying on the ground next to the press. He and another officer determined that he was not breathing and did not have a pulse. Before leaving the scene, Officer Witkowski entered a break room at the factory and asked two employees who knew Marshall if he had suicidal ideation. Both employees said he did not. The specific tire press that Marshall died on is capable of exerting pressures of 2000 pounds per square inch (PSI), according to workers interviewed by police. The human skull can only withstand 520 pounds of force before cracking, according to a bike-helmet study published in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics. The tire presses at Hoosier all have a metal safety bar that automatically stops the downward close of the press when it is touched or bumped into. However, IOSHA inspectors said it was inadequate because it didn't fully surround the press, as multiple pictures included in the report show. The safety bar, 'did not prevent employees from being caught between mold halves as the top mold closed,' the report claimed. Pictured: A nearly identical tire press machine to the one that killed Marshall is shown to have a safety bar that can easily be bypassed on the left or the right Marshall's death did not have to happen, according to IOSHA inspectors, who said that the tire press he was operating 'was inadequately guarded to the left and right sides of the safety bar'. Mike Hammond, who's been the safety manager at the Hoosier factory in Plymouth since 2013, told inspectors that Marshall was found to the left of the machine 'where the safety bar wouldn't have been activated,' per the report. Had it been activated while Marshall was operating the machine, the tire press would have stopped coming down. This problem wasn't unique to Marshall's machine. IOSHA investigators concluded that 28 other tire press machines in the factory had the same fault with their safety bars. Additionally, 30 of the factory's post cure inflators were deemed to be unsafe due to high risks of employees getting caught in them. Post cure inflators, typically known as PCIs, are the second step in the tire manufacturing process. A Hoosier employee at the Plymouth factory had their thumbs crushed in one of the PCIs on October 31, 2024, according to the IOSHA report. The incident didn't result in the worker being hospitalized, but on a February 10 walkthrough — three days after Marshall's death — inspectors pointed out several problems with the PCIs at the factory. 'The PCIs have no guarding at their pinch points and no barrier guards for their rotation,' said the report. And according to interviews conducted by the inspectors, no modifications were made to the PCIs in months after the worker injured their thumbs in the machine. As Marshall's family tries to pick up the pieces, Harmony decried Indiana laws that largely put a damper on negligence lawsuits against companies. The Indiana Workers' Compensation Act, for example, makes it so that employees are heavily restricted from suing their employer for injuries sustained while on the job, even if it can be proven that the employer was negligent. Instead, employees are required to go through the workers' compensation system to get payouts. Families trying to get death benefits for a worker's dependents are bound by the same constraints. Every other US state has these restrictions, which exist to streamline the process for compensating employees by preventing protracted lawsuits. In Indiana, there's a chance you can sue your employer if they intentionally hurt you or if provably committed a criminal act. 'If I cannot get them in a court of law, I will get them in the court of public opinion,' Harmony said, referring to Hoosier. Even before an employee's thumbs were injured, Hoosier was the subject of two IOSHA investigations, one that began in December 2021 and another in April 2022. Both probes found 'serious' safety violations, with IOSHA fining Hoosier $4,500 for each transgression. The agency said Hoosier was not in compliance with a federal standard called 'general requirements for all machines' in both instances. This rule stipulates that all machines in American workplaces need to be guarded by 'one or more methods' to protect 'the operator and other employees in the machine area.' The machines Marshall worked on lacked multiple safety measures, according to the IOSHA report. In the case of Marshall's death, IOSHA fined Hoosier $7,000 on May 6. The company decided to contest this on May 14, according to public records. Daily Mail approached Hoosier for comment about the nearly 60 machines at the Plymouth factory that were deemed to be severely lacking in proper guarding. Daily Mail also asked about the factory's prior lapses in safety that have been documented by IOSHA inquiries and whether any changes have been made since Marshall's death. The company has not responded. Marshall's brother, Alexander, recalled the shattering moment he was informed of his death. He was working the night shift as a delivery driver for Pizza Hut, so he happened to still be awake. 'I don't recall when exactly I got the call, but it was his girlfriend, Lexi,' he said, recalling his unease at being contacted so early in the morning. 'It was Lexi's mom actually on her phone, and she broke the news to me. She just told me, "Your brother had an accident working. He's not with us anymore." And I heard a bunch of first responders in the background,' he said. Eventually, one of the first responders got on the phone with him so they could begin making funeral arrangements. All of this being thrown at Alexander so suddenly was too much for him, he said. 'I kind of went into shock and just told them, I'll give you his details. Just give me a little bit. And I got off the phone and went from there. I woke my dad up and I told him Marshall's dead,' he said. His father was able to remain level headed but Alexander admitted that he 'did not take it well at all.' Marshall also had big plans with girlfriend Lexi that were tragically cut short, according to Alexander. 'He was going to marry Lexi in a few more months,' Alexander said. 'He was actually going to move into a home that I own in Arkansas.' 'He and Lexi were planning to move there as soon as he was able to,' he added. 'And once he got there, got a job, and got settled in back in that town, that's when he was gonna ask her to marry him.' Alexander only recently told Lexi this, since in the immediate aftermath, he didn't feel it was the right time to share it with her. 'She had a hard time coming with words,' he said of her reaction. She sat there quietly for a minute or two, he said, which prompted him to lighten the tension. 'I was like, "would it have been a yes or a no?" And I did get her to laugh. She said, "of course it would have been a yes."' Alexander said he and his brother had a strong bond. One of the things he'll miss the most about him are the talks they used to have. 'One of the things that really got to me the most when he was gone was — he and I, when we were together, just two of us, and just talking on long drives or whatever — I could have conversations with him that I just cannot have with anybody else in this world,' he explained. 'Like very deep conversations where no one else can really understand what we're talking about. He and I could. Only with each other.'
Al Arabiya
4 days ago
- Al Arabiya
The owner of the Tennessee factory where workers drowned after Hurricane Helene won't face charges
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The owner of a factory where six workers died last year in flooding from Hurricane Helene won't face charges after a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation found no criminal wrongdoing. First Judicial District Attorney General Steven Finney announced the decision to close the case on Friday, saying no further action will be taken. The investigation found no evidence that Impact Plastics employees were told they could not leave the factory or that they would be fired if they left, according to a news release from the district attorney. It also found employees had a little more than an hour during which they could have evacuated from the Erwin, Tennessee industrial park. The conclusion mirrors that of a similar investigation by the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration that found in April that workers had time to evacuate the premises, albeit by makeshift routes. A statement from Impact Plastics attorney Stephen Ross Johnson on Friday said company president and founder Gerald O'Connor welcomes the results of the TBI investigation. 'The true and accurate facts are now known,' the statement reads. Five employees and one contractor who cleaned the offices once a week were killed on Sept. 27 after they were washed away by floodwaters. They were among 12 people who stuck close to the Impact Plastics building waiting for the water to recede after realizing the exit road was already submerged. When the water kept rising, they climbed onto the bed of a semitrailer loaded with giant spools of plastic piping that was parked outside the factory. When floodwaters eventually overwhelmed the truck, six people were able to use the piping for flotation and were later rescued. The other six drowned. The TOSHA report notes that several Impact Plastics employees did escape the flood. Some were able to drive or walk over an embankment to a nearby highway after workers at a neighboring business dismantled a fence there. Others escaped by driving over a makeshift path onto nearby railroad tracks that an employee at a neighboring business created with a tractor. Still others were able to escape by walking to the railroad tracks, according to that report. Although the criminal case is being closed, the company still faces a wrongful death lawsuit from the family of Johnny Peterson, and other civil suits are planned. Attorney Luke Widener, who represents the families of several flood victims, said in a statement that they categorically disagree that Impact Plastics employees were given any meaningful opportunity to escape. 'Indeed, if Impact Plastics' account were true, Bertha Mendoza, Sibrina Barnett, and the others who perished would still be with us.'
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
The owner of the Tennessee factory where workers drowned after Hurricane Helene won't face charges
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The owner of a factory where six workers died last year in flooding from Hurricane Helene won't face charges after a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation found no criminal wrongdoing. First Judicial District Attorney General Steven Finney announced the decision to close the case on Friday, saying no further action will be taken. The investigation found no evidence that Impact Plastics employees were told they could not leave the factory or that they would be fired if they left, according to a news release from the district attorney. It also found employees had a little more than an hour during which they could have evacuated from the Erwin, Tennessee, industrial park. The conclusion mirrors that of a similar investigation by the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration that found in April that workers had time to evacuate the premises, albeit by makeshift routes. A statement from Impact Plastics attorney Stephen Ross Johnson on Friday said company president and founder Gerald O'Connor welcomes the results of the TBI investigation. 'The true and accurate facts are now known,' the statement reads. Five employees and one contractor who cleaned the offices once a week were killed on Sept. 27 after they were washed away by floodwaters. They were among 12 people who stuck close to the Impact Plastics building, waiting for the water to recede, after realizing the exit road was already submerged. When the water kept rising, they climbed onto the bed of a semitrailer loaded with giant spools of plastic piping that was parked outside the factory. When floodwaters eventually overwhelmed the truck, six people were able to use the piping for flotation and were later rescued. The other six drowned. The TOSHA report notes that several Impact Plastics employees did escape the flood. Some were able to drive or walk over an embankment to a nearby highway after workers at a neighboring business dismantled a fence there. Others escaped by driving over a makeshift path onto nearby railroad tracks that an employee at a neighboring business created with a tractor. Still others were able to escape by walking to the railroad tracks, according to that report. Although the criminal case is being closed, the company still faces a wrongful death lawsuit from the family of Johnny Peterson, and other civil suits are planned. Attorney Luke Widener, who represents the families of several flood victims, said in a statement that they 'categorically disagree that Impact Plastics employees were given any meaningful opportunity to escape. ...Indeed, if Impact Plastics' account were true, Bertha Mendoza, Sibrina Barnett, and the others who perished would still be with us." Travis Loller And Jonathan Mattise, The Associated Press
Associated Press
4 days ago
- Associated Press
The owner of the Tennessee factory where workers drowned after Hurricane Helene won't face charges
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The owner of a factory where six workers died last year in flooding from Hurricane Helene won't face charges after a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation found no criminal wrongdoing. First Judicial District Attorney General Steven Finney announced the decision to close the case on Friday, saying no further action will be taken. The investigation found no evidence that Impact Plastics employees were told they could not leave the factory or that they would be fired if they left, according to a news release from the district attorney. It also found employees had a little more than an hour during which they could have evacuated from the Erwin, Tennessee, industrial park. The conclusion mirrors that of a similar investigation by the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration that found in April that workers had time to evacuate the premises, albeit by makeshift routes. A statement from Impact Plastics attorney Stephen Ross Johnson on Friday said company president and founder Gerald O'Connor welcomes the results of the TBI investigation. 'The true and accurate facts are now known,' the statement reads. Five employees and one contractor who cleaned the offices once a week were killed on Sept. 27 after they were washed away by floodwaters. They were among 12 people who stuck close to the Impact Plastics building, waiting for the water to recede, after realizing the exit road was already submerged. When the water kept rising, they climbed onto the bed of a semitrailer loaded with giant spools of plastic piping that was parked outside the factory. When floodwaters eventually overwhelmed the truck, six people were able to use the piping for flotation and were later rescued. The other six drowned. The TOSHA report notes that several Impact Plastics employees did escape the flood. Some were able to drive or walk over an embankment to a nearby highway after workers at a neighboring business dismantled a fence there. Others escaped by driving over a makeshift path onto nearby railroad tracks that an employee at a neighboring business created with a tractor. Still others were able to escape by walking to the railroad tracks, according to that report. Although the criminal case is being closed, the company still faces a wrongful death lawsuit from the family of Johnny Peterson, and other civil suits are planned. Attorney Luke Widener, who represents the families of several flood victims, said in a statement that they 'categorically disagree that Impact Plastics employees were given any meaningful opportunity to escape. ...Indeed, if Impact Plastics' account were true, Bertha Mendoza, Sibrina Barnett, and the others who perished would still be with us.'
CBC
05-07-2025
- Business
- CBC
WSIB, union say they've reached tentative deal
More than a month after talks broke down and workers hit the picket lines, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) and the Ontario Compensation Employees Union (OCEU) say they have reached a tentative agreement. About 3,600 members of the OCEU, also known as CUPE Local 1750, which represents workers at the WSIB, have been on strike for better wages and working conditions since May 22. The WSIB put out a news release on Saturday, announcing the tentative deal and saying it expected its full workforce to be back within 24 hours of a successful ratification vote. "We thank Ontarians for the patience they've shown us during the labour disruption," WSIB president and CEO Jeff Lang said in the statement. "Our team is committed to delivering better, easier, and faster service to Ontarians and we can't wait to get back to doing what we do best – helping people." The statement did not provide any details about the agreement. In a statement Friday afternoon, CUPE 1750 said no further details of the agreement will be made public until a ratification vote takes place in the coming days. "Our members were clear, they wanted real investments in frontline staffing, a stop to outsourcing Ontario jobs, and safer workloads. While we'll be presenting the full details to our members first, I can say this, our bargaining team believes we've made meaningful progress on those priorities," said union OCEU/CUPE 1750 president Harry Goslin in the release. The WSIB provides workplace injury and illness insurance to more than 5.3 million people in more than 300,000 Ontario workplaces, according to the board's statement. As WSIB service returns to normal, the board says people can continue to go online to report an injury or illness, submit documents for existing claims, register a new business, access clearances or see up-to-date claim, payment and health benefit information.
