When you go to work, it's your employer's duty to make sure the machines you use are safe and have the right guards in place. If a guard is missing on a piece of machinery, you could be injured by being caught in the machinery or even pulled into it. In extreme cases, this can lead to death. In best-case scenarios, workers can get out without injuries, but these cases rarely work out that way.
In this case, a worker in Ohio suffered serious injuries after his arm was caught in a machine at a local rubber-hose manufacturing plant. According to the news out of Bellefontaine, Ohio, the manufacturer had previously been cited for 11 machine safety violations, and now it faces $70,000 in fines alone after a lapse in safety led to a 27-year-old man suffering serious injuries.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the injury, which took place in February, was a result of a machine that did not have the correct guarding parts. The machine's belt caught the worker's left arm and caused lacerations and fractures. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration reports that the company is a repeat violator and believes it continues to put its workers at risk of amputations and other serious injuries.
In 2015, the company was cited and paid penalties of $134,000 for 10 serious safety violations and one willful violation. The investigation took place after another employee was injured and died at the company's Salisbury facility. The company has facilities in California, Kansas, South Carolina, Ohio, North Carolina and Tennessee.
If you're hurt in a case like this, workers' compensation should be there to help you through the financial impact of the injury. If you're left disabled, there may be additional options your attorney can help you apply for that will increase your potential compensation.
Source: Workers' Compensation, "OH Worker Suffers Serious Injury After Arm Caught in Machine at Rubber-Hose Manufacturing Plant," June 13, 2016