OSHA

_{Two young workers (ages 14 and 19) were killed at a grain storage facility in the Midwest when they were sent into a grain bin to “walk down the corn.” The grain bin was being emptied, and the workers’ task was to break up clumps by walking on them to make the corn flow out of the bin. The workers were not provided safety harnesses, and the machinery used for evacuating the grain was running. The suction created by the flowing grain pulled them in like quicksand and suffocated them. Workers should never be inside a grain bin when it is being emptied out, because a sinkhole can form and pull down the worker in a matter of seconds. OSHA standards prohibit this dangerous practice. This company ignored that rule as well as other protective safety requirements. In addition, child labor laws made it illegal for this company to employ a 14-year-old to work in a grain silo.}

An 18-year-old worker died after becoming entangled in a portable mortar mixer at a residential construction site. The victim was cleaning the mixer at the end of his shift to prepare it for the following day. A painter working near the victim heard yells for help and saw the victim’s arm stuck in the machine and his body being pulled into the rotating mixer paddles. He ran to the mixer and attempted to turn it off, but could not disengage the gears, so he yelled for help. A co-worker heard the commotion, ran to the machine and shut it off. Emergency medical services was called and responded within minutes. Rescue workers dismantled the drive mechanism to reverse the mixing paddles and extricate the worker. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

A 17-year-old assistant pool manager was electrocuted when she contacted an ungrounded electric motor. She was performing her work duty of maintaining the pH level of the swimming pool by adding soda ash to the water. Standing barefoot on the wet concrete floor of the pump room, she filled the plastic drum with water, plugged in the mixing motor and placed the motor switch in the on position. In the process of adding soda ash to the drum, she accidentally contacted the energized mixing motor with her left hand and created a path to ground for the electrical current. She was electrocuted and died.

A 20-year-old worker lost his right middle finger while cleaning a printing press near a rotating gear. The machine was in operation, and his hand contacted and was caught by the rotating press. Two-thirds of his finger was cut off.

Each year, many workers lose fingers, hands, feet and other body parts, mostly through compression, crushing, or by getting them caught between or struck by objects. Amputations occur most often when workers operate unguarded or inadequately safeguarded machines or equipment.