
A recent U.S. Department of Labor investigation has determined that Madix, a Texas-based operator of a manufacturing facility in Eclectic, Alabama, could have prevented a 20-year-old worker from suffering an amputation if only the employer had followed required federal safety standards.
The industrial accident occurred on March 23, 2023 and Madix reported the incident to OSHA. Investigators found that, as the worker tried to adjust a coolant feed line on a tube saw, his glove became caught, and his hand was pulled into the saw’s spinning blade. Three of the worker's fingers were amputated.
Madix, which makes retail shelving and displays, received citations for two repeat, three serious and three other-than-serious violations and faces $158,051 in proposed penalties.
According to OSHA, Madix allowed employees to perform maintenance on the tube saw without following lockout-tagout procedures and didn't ensure employees were properly trained to safely apply, use and remove energy controls on automatic tube cutters.
The company also permitted employees to operate a press machine with an unguarded material carriage, which exposed them to pinch-point hazards and failed to provide guards for a tube-cutting saw’s blades, exposing employees to amputation hazards.
Madix also failed to repair a broken emergency stop button on the side control panel of an automatic saw.
Since 2018, OSHA inspections at two Madix facilities in Alabama and one in Texas have identified one willful violation and eight serious violations. The inspections included a 2019 OSHA investigation of an employee’s amputation injury in Eclectic that found similar machine guarding and lockout-tagout failures for which OSHA cited the company for three serious violations.
“Madix’s failures in past inspections raise concerns about how seriously the company takes its obligation to provide employees with a safe and healthy workplace,” said OSHA Area Director Jose A. Gonzalez.
Established in 1982, Madix Inc. is headquartered in Terrell, Texas. The company manufactures metal and wood shelving and displays for retail stores with facilities in Eclectic and Goodwater, Alabama, and warehouses in the U.S. and the U.K.
Madix employs about 500 workers in Eclectic.