September 25, 2023
A 19-year-old worker in Florida suffered fatal injuries after a concrete mixer restarted while the teen tried to clean the machine’s inside. Now, Newnan, Georgia-based Foley Products Company faces $245,546 in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) penalties for one willful and six serious violations, the agency announced September 20.
OSHA inspectors determined that two employees at Foley Products’ Cantonment, Florida, facility climbed inside a mixer initially to use a hammer and chisel to chip away hardened concrete. As one of the workers left the mixer, the machine restarted with the other inside.
Agency inspectors cited the company for willfully exposing workers to crushed-by hazards by allowing them to enter the mixer without making sure to first follow energy control (lockout/tagout) procedures. The agency also found that the company exposed workers to confined space hazards by not making sure a safe atmosphere existed inside the mixer before the workers entered and by failing to have an attendant ready to retrieve workers safely.
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