In text for a citation, OSHA faults Fuyao for “not ensuring” that employees cutting banding on heavy pallets of glass sheets used angle gages to prevent the glass from “falling forward and striking the employees,” OSHA says in a text for its citation of Fuyao.
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“The employer did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm, such as crushing and/or struck-by injuries to employees removing banding and plastic from palletized glass sheets,” part of the OSHA text says.
In an early morning shift on March 20, Fuyao forklift operator Ricky Patterson, 57, died within minutes after he was trapped between his machine and a pallet holding more than 2,000 pounds of glass, according to Moraine police records.
Police records indicated that the Dayton residents was crushed by a ton of glass after he cut an attached strap, freeing the product to fall on him.
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The OSHA citation also faults Fuyao for not ensuring that an employee removing plastic from a pallet of glass sheets in the plant’s tempering department did not use “a T-bar/safety bar to prevent the glass from falling forward and striking the employee.”
The web site indicates the informal settlement was offered Aug. 7 after an initial penalty of $12,934 was issued in late July.
A message seeking comment was left for Ken Montgomery, who is director of OSHA’s Cincinnati area office.
Another message was also sent to representatives of Fuyao.
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