Auto parts manufacturing is a growing industry across the American South. While the factories and the jobs that they provide do benefit the local economy and provide jobs for many people, there are risks associated with working in automobile parts manufacturing facilities. The machines that are used to make auto parts are diverse and complex. Workers who use the devices are supposed to receive training on how to use the machines, and what to do when they malfunction to keep themselves safe. A horrific accident at an Alabama parts manufacturing plant illustrates just how dangerous the equipment in auto parts manufacturing facilities is.
A young woman got killed at the Ajin USA plant in Cusseta, Alabama. One day, she was working with a robot which mounted pillars for side view mirrors on dashboard frames. The machine often stopped when bolts got stuck in it, and when the machine stopped that day, the team that was working in that area called the facility maintenance crew to come and fix it. The woman and her co-workers watched and waited, becoming more and more impatient as time passed because they had quotas that they were expected to fill. The pressure to fill quotas and work quickly is a common characteristic of auto manufacturing plant jobs.
Unfortunately, the pressure to fill quotas and to fill them quickly can cost lives, when workers take matters into their own hands, as evidenced by what happened next. After a while of waiting, the young woman grabbed a screwdriver and went into a screened-off area around the robot. She tried to clear the fault herself, and as she did, the robot turned on and pinned her against a steel dashboard frame. The robot impaled her upper body with a pair of welding tips. A co-worker activated the emergency shut-off, and the young woman got trapped in the machine. Co-workers tried to free her from its grasp to no avail. Someone went to get a maintenance person, and another person called for help. The maintenance worker did not know how to free the woman from the robot, but when emergency personnel arrived at the plant, they locked out the robot’s emergency power switch so that it could not reactivate and extracted her from the machine. The young woman got rushed to the hospital and then airlifted to a trauma center. She died as a result of her injuries the next day.
Locking out an emergency power switch is an essential safety procedure that factory workers at all kinds of industrial facilities should be trained in and equipped for. Under Federal law, no one is supposed to examine an industrial machine or robot without first having locked out the switch. It is alleged that workers at the Ajin plant did not have access to safety locks or lockout training.
Barrett Law PLLC: Help for the Families of Victims of Fatal Mississippi Workplace Accidents
If someone that you love lost their life in a manufacturing facility accident, it is imperative that you get assistance from a Mississippi Workplace Accident Attorney. Workplace accident attorneys understand worker’s compensation law, as well as the dangers of modern workplaces of all kinds. They work to serve families like yours in their times of need. To learn more, call the Mississippi Workplace Accident Attorneys at Barrett Law PLLC at 1 (800) 707-9577 to schedule a consultation.