Pipe Manufacturer Fined $110,000 for Worker’s Electrocution

A worker for a pipe manufacturer was working alone on a machine from an elevated forklift platform. The machine he was working on wasn’t powered off. A plug and thermocouple had been removed from it and the plug had been disassembled, exposing its prongs. The air temperature triggered the machine’s control panel to send power to the plug to heat the machine back to the set-point temperature. The worker was found unresponsive on the platform with the exposed and burnt prongs of the plug in hand. The cause of death was electrocution. The MOL found that the worker hadn’t been trained on how to specifically lock out this machine. The court fined the manufacturer $110,000 for violating the Industrial Establishments Regulation and was fined $110,000 [Ideal Drain Tile Ltd., Govt. News Release, Jan. 18, 2016].