Embracing Change in the Workplace Fatality Report

“A worker’s first day at work shouldn’t be his last day on earth,” said OSHA administrator David Michaels about a 21-year-old temporary worker who was crushed to death his first day on the job. (Updated Feb. 14 with statement from Bacardi.)

OSHA has issued 12 violations to Bacardi Bottling Corp. in connection with the death of Lawrence Davis at the company’s Jacksonville, FL, facility in August 2012. Associated fines total $192,000.

Davis was cleaning glass from under the hoist of a palletizing machine when an employee restarted the palletizer. The machine crushed Davis. OSHA says Bacardi had failed to train temporary employees on using locks and tags to prevent the unexpected start-up of machines and to ensure its own employees used lockout/tagout procedures.

Bacardi was using temporary staffers from Remedy Intelligent Staffing.

“We are seeing untrained workers — many of them temporary workers — killed very soon after starting a new job. This must stop,” said Michaels. The OSHA administrator said companies must train all employees, including those who are retained from temporary employment agencies, before they start working.