The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has agreed to settle litigation against a grain bin operator following the deaths of two teen age workers.
The settlement resolves 25 citations issued by OSHA and child labor civil penalties assessed by DOL’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD).
At the time of the incident, the workers “were walking down the corn” to make it flow while machinery used to convey the grain was running. Three workers became trapped in corn more than 30 feet deep and a 14-year-old worker and a 19-year old-suffocated; a 20-year-old also was seriously injured.
OSHA cited the facility for 12 willful, 12 serious, and one other-than-serious violation of the agency’s grain standards. The company, which is no longer in business, will pay $200,000 in OSHA fines, down from an original assessment of $500,000.
Since 2009, OSHA has fined grain operators in Illinois, Colorado, South Dakota and Wisconsin following similar preventable fatalities and injuries. OSHA has also sent a notification letter to grain elevator operators warning them not to allow workers to enter grain storage facilities without proper equipment, precautions, and training.
A separate investigation by the DOL’s WHD found that the facility employed workers under 18 to perform jobs prohibited by the Fair Labor Standards Act. For those violations, the company will pay $68,125, the full civil money penalties.
Visit OSHA’s website for more information.
