MFA Inc., a Missouri farm cooperative, faces a $241,887 Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fine following an employee’s fatal engulfment in a storage bin, the agency announced October 29.

The agency initiated an inspection following the employer’s fatality report and found that three employees of MFA Inc., operating as MFA Rail Car, were removing corn screenings, composed of clumps of corn dust, from a bin at the company’s Hamilton, Missouri, facility. One worker entered the bin to clear screenings and became engulfed when the screenings shifted. Another worker tried to rescue his coworker but was engulfed to his waist before being rescued by first responders from the local fire department.

Inspectors learned that the Columbia, Missouri, grain cooperative hadn’t completed a required bin entry permit before allowing the workers inside. A conveyor was running with the bin’s bottom gate open, increasing both the risk of shifting product and the risk of engulfment. MFA also lacked adequate rescue equipment, failed to ensure the worker wore a harness and lifeline, and didn’t follow other required safety procedures before entering the bin.

OSHA cited MFA with one willful and five serious violations, and it identified several safety failures, including the following:

• A lack of adequate rescue equipment on-site when workers entered bins;
• Failure to protect employees from falls on walking-working surfaces;
• No verification that mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, and pneumatic equipment inside grain storage structures was de-energized, locked out, and tagged to prevent operation when workers entered;
• Workers’ being allowed to enter a bin without completing the permit process; 
• The bin’s atmosphere not being tested before workers entered; and 
• A harness and lifeline not being provided to prevent employees from sinking deeper than waist-deep in the grain.

OSHA has an ongoing regional emphasis program (REP) in Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska for grain-handling facilities.

Employers cited in fatal 30-story fall at Fort Lauderdale high rise

A Mableton, Georgia, contractor and a Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, crane rental company face $61,299 in OSHA fines following a crane collapse at a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, residential construction site that caused a 27-year-old rigger to suffer fatal injuries after falling approximately 30 stories, the agency announced October 29.

OSHA investigators learned that two employees of Phoenix Rigging & Erecting were installing a section on a tower crane to increase its height when a support cable failed and the platform they stood on became displaced. One worker, who was wearing the required fall protection equipment, which was tied off, was rescued. Another worker, whose lanyard wasn’t connected to an anchor point, was fatally injured.

The agency cited Phoenix Rigging & Erecting with three serious violations for failing to do the following: 

• Identify and replace or otherwise repair corroded and cracked pins or bolts designed to secure the crane’s climbing frame and apply end connections properly. 
• Ensure workers’ used fall protection equipment.
• Conduct pre-inspections of crane components before allowing employees to start work, and ensure cranes were inspected properly by a qualified person for damage or excessive wear.
• OSHA also cited Maxim Crane Works LP, a Canonsburg crane rental company, for two serious violations for failing to do the following:
• Observe the deficiencies of significantly corroded and cracked pins and bolts, and improperly apply end connections.
• Allow employees to start work without conducting pre-inspections of crane components, including, but not limited to, U-bolt clamps, bolts, pins, thimbles, and wire ropes, to ensure those were inspected adequately by a qualified person for damage or excessive wear.

“If these companies had made safety a priority, a young man’s family, friends, and co-workers wouldn’t be facing this preventable loss,” Condell Eastmond, OSHA’s Fort Lauderdale area office director, said in an agency statement. “Construction employers are responsible for ensuring that workers use fall protection in hazardous situations, and we will hold all employers accountable for failing to provide safe working conditions.”