Worker’s death from grain engulfment leads to OSHA penalties
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A Nebraska feed company is facing $526,633 in proposed fines and has been placed in the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program after a 52-year-old maintenance employee died after a wall of corn collapsed and buried him.
OSHA issued three willful, 15 serious and two other-than-serious violations to West Point, Nebraska-based Prinz Grain & Feed Inc. after its investigation of the fatal injury, which occurred in May when the employee was working to clear crusted corn from the sides of a grain bin and found himself engulfed in hundreds of pounds of grain, the agency said Thursday in a statement. He died two days later.
"An ‘engulfment’ often happens when ‘bridged’ grain and vertical piles of stored grain collapse unexpectedly, as in this tragic case,” Kim Stille, OSHA's regional administrator in Kansas City, Missouri, said in the statement. “The density, weight and unpredictable behavior of flowing grains make it nearly impossible for workers to rescue themselves without help. In more than 60% of grain engulfments, workers suffer fatal injuries."
During its investigation, OSHA found Prinz Grain & Feed failed to issue confined space permits for entry into grain bins and pits, test atmospheric conditions in grain bins and pits before allowing workers to enter and provide training to employees on confined space entry, among other violations, according to the press release.
The company was also placed in the agency’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program, which focuses resources on inspecting employers who, according to the agency, have demonstrated indifference to their Occupational Safety and Health Act obligations through willful, repeated or failure-to-abate violations.
The company has an informal conference scheduled for next week with OSHA’s regional office to discuss the citations and proposed penalties, said President David Prinz.
“That’s step one to see if we can find a happy medium,” he said.
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