« Ind. Courts - More on: "Indiana Supreme Court Suspends Judge Accused of Theft" | Main | Ind. Courts - More on: "Trial about St. Joseph County judge's mandate order ends" [Updated] »
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Ind. Gov't. - "Jeff steel plant fined $240,000 for violations found after worker died"
Harold J. Adams reports in the Louisville Courier Journal in a story that begins:
Steel Dynamics, the Jeffersonville steel processing plant, was fined $240,000 Wednesday by the Indiana Department of Labor for safety violations found in an inspection after a worker died at the facility in August.Shay Fanase Jr., 21, was overcome by nitrogen while working in a confined space in the plant on Aug. 5 and died three days later at University Hospital in Louisville.
Chuck Carter, deputy labor commissioner in charge of the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said Fanase’s death was caused by “a terrible design” that required the worker to open a furnace and put his head into it in order to pull parts through.
Carter said it’s a “very, very dangerous prospect when you open this door.”
“This is so high a level of nitrogen that putting your head in there and taking a good breath, you can say goodbye to consciousness immediately,” he said. “You are talking about levels of inert gases that can be nearly immediately fatal to a human being.”
“If they were in compliance with these rules beforehand they would not have had someone in that situation breathing those gases at that level and then you’re rolling the dice on whether you’re dead or you just end up in the hospital.”
Steel Dynamics spokesman Fred Warner said the company would not comment because it had not seen the IOSHA report. “We’ll review the findings when we get them … and if necessary further discuss with Indiana OSHA,” he said in a telephone message.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 29, 2009 09:33 AM
Posted to Indiana Government