CANTON, Ohio — On December 27, 2021, a 65-year-old was fatally crushed at TimkenSteel's Gambrinus facility.
The man was operating a bar straightener machine on the day of the incident when he was caught on a piece of steel bar stock rotating at a high speed. Inspectors found that the hooks the company gave him to manipulate the steel bar stock were not long enough and required the operator to be in the machines "danger zone" while operating.
Today, the US Department of Labor cited TimkenSteel after they found the mill had failed to install guards or provide proper hand tools to prevent workers from entanglement hazards while operating certain machines.
OSHA also found that TimkenSteel canceled a plan to modify a machine that would have eliminated the need for a worker to touch rotating bar stock that would have prevented accidents like the one above.
As a result, TimkenSteel has been cited for two willful and two serious violations and OSHA has proposed penalties of $315,952.
OSHA also reported that they have cited the company three times for safety failures in the last five years and have placed TimkenSteel on their "Severe Violator Enforcement Program".
“A worker’s life might have been spared if TimkenSteel safeguarded dangerous machinery as required by law,” said OSHA Area Director Howard Eberts in Cleveland. “This company identified the safety issue that exposed workers using this machine to serious hazards but failed to make it safe.”
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