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OSHA fines AK Steel $7,000

Fines come in wake of accident where man fell into pit of boiling water.

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By Jessica Heffner, Staff Writer Updated 10:27 PM Friday, November 13, 2009

MIDDLETOWN — AK Steel Corp. has received two serious citations and was fined more than $7,000 by OSHA in connection with an incident where a worker was severely burned when he fell into a pit of hot water at Middletown Works.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration citations were issued Monday, Nov. 9, levying $7,125. The violations were related to an incident that occurred Aug. 24 when a 47-year-old maintenance worker fell into a condensation pit of hot water while working on some pipes at the plant.

According to reports from the Middletown fire department, the employee suffered burns to 65 percent to 70 percent of his body, some second-degree, covering his arms, legs and torso. The man was pulled out of the pit by another employee working in the area.

Although the company did have guard rails meeting OSHA’s standards of 42-inches in height, during the incident the employees were found to be working inside of the rails or taking them down, said Dick Gilgrist, OSHA area director.

“We need to ensure that the OSHA standards are met,” Gilgrist said. “The workers cannot work inside of the guard rails or take them down.”

In addition, AK Steel was cited for not properly evaluating the people working on plant steam lines. The company is required to evaluate the work annually, but was found to not be accurately documenting what was being done, Gilgrist said.

According to OSHA, a serious citation is “one in which there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result, and the employer knew or should have known of the hazard.”

During the investigation of the incident, Gilgrist said his office was not familiar with the condensation pits and confirmed “this is an area of the plant that not many people go into.”

Alan McCoy, spokesman for AK Steel, which is based in West Chester Twp., said the company has received the citations from OSHA and is reviewing the documentation. He declined to comment further.

Union officials could not be reached for comment.

AK has 15 working days to schedule an informal conference with Gilgrist to discuss the proposed fine and citations.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2843 or jheffner@coxohio.com.

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What should the company have done?Award a medal of honor for workers that put themselves in a hazardous situation by not following the safety rules? This worker could have been killed! His quality of life is greatly diminished-all because of skipping the safety steps that would have prevented the accident. What if the other worker could not have rescued him? I dont understand people who are more appalled by a company's discipline action than about people who dont take their own safety seriously.

bobbi
8:18 AM, 11/17/2009

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The man who saved a life got three days off unpaid and the guy injured got nothing. I was there. I work with them every day.

deon
11:27 PM, 11/13/2009

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Both men were FIRED. This information came from family members. Way to treat a guy like a hero for saving a life...........

ttaylor
10:31 PM, 11/13/2009

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A big and dangerous place is what AK is. If you work there you have to realize that fact. AK takes reasonable steps to be safe----but accidents will happen---no matter what. OSHA should butt out ----gov,t IS the problem and has never and never will be the cure The proof is in the pudding--look at this garbage that we have ruining our country now.

saveanation
9:02 PM, 11/13/2009

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By the way, AK gave the guy who pulled the man out of the hot water time off of work. Punishment for violating safety rules. That's all I am going to say about it.

ironmur
7:15 PM, 11/13/2009

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