Rockford scrap metal recycler sentenced for safety breach leading to death of worker

CHICAGO (Scrap Monster): Rockford, Illinois-based Behr Iron & Metal was sentenced by US Majistrate Judge Iain D. Johnston for willful violation of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations that led to the death of an employee. The company has been sentenced to five years’ probation and ordered to pay restitution of $350,000 to the victim’s estate. It must be noted that the company was earlier ordered to pay a fine of $520,000 in a related administrative case.

The incident took place at Behr’s South Beloit facility, 201 Wheeler Ave. in March 2014. The 37-year old employee named Hernandez-Ortega who was cleaning the discharge pit at the facility succumbed to death when the unguarded conveyor belt caught his arm and pulled him into the machinery. The conveyor belt was used to catch shredded metal falling from a machine into the discharge pit and move them through sorting process. The employee had encountered with the accident while cleaning the discharge pit below the conveyor belt by shoveling shredded material from the floor of the discharge pit on to the conveyor belt.

The OSHA investigation report stated that Behr Iron & Steel knowingly exposed Hernandez-Ortega and at least three other workers to highly dangerous equipment with no safeguards during cleaning operations. It found that the conveyor belt was running when workers entered the pit. OSHA noted that the company had failed to provide the lockout/tagout protection and confined space protection as required by its laws to employees operating under such circumstances.

As per OSHA regulations, employers are required to adopt and use safety procedures that would ensure that dangerous machines would be properly shut off so that it would not start up again prior to the completion of maintenance or service work. Safety procedures also include placing a lock on the power source of the machine and a tag on the lock warning that the machine could not be operated until the warning was removed by authorized employee. In addition, the employer must ensure proper air condition, adequate ventilation and easy access to rescue and emergency equipment prior to deploying an employee to work in a confined space.

The company pleaded guilty to the charge on March 8, 2016, and admitted in a plea agreement that violation of safety procedures had led to the death of the worker. It admitted that there was no lock mechanism or emergency shut off switch for the conveyor belt. Also, the conveyor belt did not have guards to protect employees. Moreover, it also admitted that the employees in the discharge pit were not given adequate training to use the shredder or the conveyor belt.

Behr Iron & Metal operates solely in the metal recycling industry. It buys, process and sells scrap metals sourced from industry, obsolete materials, plant tear-downs, construction and other sources. Behr Iron & Metal’s facilities are located in the Midwest, spanning three states—Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin. It operates eleven full service scrap operations and two free standing drive through collection facilities. Behr Iron & Metal is one of the top 20 ferrous and non-ferrous scrap processors in the United States