In August 2017, an employee ABC Polymer Industries was fatally injured after she was pulled into a plastics recycling machine. The company manufactures concrete fibers and fibrillated yarns, and is a distributor of bulk bags.
Following an OSHA investigation, the Helena, AL-based company now faces $195,144 in proposed fines.
According to AL.com, 45-year-old Catalina Estillado, aka Eva Saenz, was pulled into the machine and medical personnel pronounced her dead at the scene.
Estillado's husband, Crescensio Pablo, filed a lawsuit against ABC in September 2017. The suit alleges that his wife was assigned to work near a machine that was in "unreasonably dangerous condition as designed, manufactured, maintained and installed."
OSHA hit the company with multiple citations, including one willful citation for failing to provide machine guarding from caught-in and amputation hazards.
The employer was also cited for repeat, serious, and other-than-serious violations, including failing to install a rail system on both sides of an open platform; and not having specific safety procedures to shut down or isolate stored energy.
The penalties were announced February 20, 2018, and the company has 15 business days to comply with or contest the findings.
ABC Polymer serves multiple industries, from pharmaceuticals and food, to building materials and recycled products. IEN reached out to the company for comment, but did not hear back from the company.
