OSHA cites Middletown cardboard manufacturer after machine causes temporary worker to suffer severe arm injury at Ohio plant

Employer name: Honey Cell Inc. Midwest
6480 Hamilton-Lebanon Road
Middletown, Ohio           

Citations issued: Sept. 16, 2016

Investigation findings:  The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Columbus Area Office has cited Honey Cell Inc. Midwest for one repeated and three serious safety violations after a 34-year-old worker suffered a severe compression injury to her right arm on Aug. 8, 2016.

OSHA’s investigation found the temporary worker had her hand and arm caught between an idler roll and the belt on a compression deck as she removed cardboard scrap with a utility knife.

In its investigation, the agency found:

• Energy control procedures were not followed.
• Employees were not trained on energy sources and methods for energy isolation and control
• Workers were not kept clear of rotating parts during removal of cardboard scrap.
• Improperly stored oxygen compressed gas cylinders

OSHA cited Honey Cell, a cardboard packaging materials company, for similar violations of energy-control procedures in 2013.

Quote: “Honey Cell could have prevented this serious injury by training workers in energy-control procedures and ensuring workers followed the procedures,” said Ken Montgomery, OSHA’s area director in Cincinnati. “The company needs to make permanent changes to its safety program and ensure hazards are identified quickly and unsafe working conditions are promptly corrected.”

Proposed Penalties: $96,741

View Citations here.

To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint, or report amputations, eye loss, workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA’s toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency’s Cincinnati Area Office at (513) 841-4132.