EDCO Waste and Recycling Services, Inc. was recently fined almost $112,000 to cover seven citations for an accident that happened last New Year’s Eve. The California industrial accident occurred when a large cylinder was being installed into a garbage truck. According to reports, the hydraulic cylinder struck a worker causing crushing injuries to the man.
Reports from Cal/OSHA indicate that the company failed to provide proper safety training which may have led to the serious injuries. The Cal/OSHA spokesperson further commented, saying that “proper workplace safety training is critical,” because it reduces the number of accidents with injuries. When accurately implemented, training may also prevent many accidents. The company reportedly failed to follow previous mandates to fix problems that could cause an industrial accident.
The devastating injury happened just two months after another accident injured a worker in the plant. In that accident a truck mechanic was injured. The report does not indicate the extent of any of the injuries to workers at the plant overall. The company collects waste from more than 450,000 residential and 25,000 business customers in the Southern California area suggesting that they have a large number of employees.
An industrial accident such as this one was likely preventable. Had the employees been provided with the proper workplace safety training, and had the company enforced safety measures, people may not have been hurt. In this California accident, the result was a severely injured worker. The injured man may face a lengthy recovery and will likely seek workers’ compensation to cover the medical and other expenses associated with this terrible event.
Source: “EDCO fined $112K for accident that seriously injured employee,” July 2, 2012