South Elgin manufacturer cited for safety violations that led to amputation
A South Elgin metal manufacturer faces $70,000 in penalties for safety violations that led to the amputation of a 21-year-old temporary worker's fingers after a Nov. 4, 2015, accident.
The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Custom Aluminum Products for "one willful and one serious safety violation."
Following a six-month investigation, federal inspectors found that the amputation of the worker's six fingers was preventable, if the company had installed proper safety guards to keep the operator's hands out of the metal press' danger zone, according to an agency news release.
The OSHA investigation determined the worker, employed for four weeks, suffered the loss of his ring, middle and index fingers and part of his right pinkie finger when his hands became caught as he hand-fed parts into an aluminum press, per the release.
"It's hard to imagine the agony and pain this young man suffered when six of his fingers were amputated," said Jake Scott, OSHA's area director in Aurora. "His life is now forever altered because the press lacked required safeguarding devices. These devices would have prevented his hands from coming in contact with the operating parts of the machine."
Custom Aluminum Products specializes in custom extrusions, fabrication, welding, bending, painting, anodizing, assembly, packing and inventory warehousing at two sites in South Elgin and Genoa.
The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
A company spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.
Since Jan. 1, 2015, OSHA requires all employers to report any severe work-related injury - defined as a hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye - within 24 hours. Employers are required to report a workplace fatality within eight hours.
In the first full year of the program, Illinois employers reported 173 amputations. Amputation hazards are among the most frequently cited OSHA violations.
For more information, to obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint, or report amputations, eye loss, workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, call OSHA's toll-free hotline at (800) 321-6742 or the agency's Aurora office at (630) 896-8700.