Two former managers of an Ohio aluminum plant have been sentenced to probation and ordered to pay thousands of dollars in fines after pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice in an investigation into a worker fatality by federal workplace safety officials.
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio sentenced Brian L. Carder and Paul Love, former managers at Extrudex Aluminum’s plant in North Jackson, Ohio, following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) that found the managers attempted to hide information and intimidate employees from speaking to the Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigators about an employee fatality in October 2012.
Carder was sentenced to three years of probation with weekend only confinement for the first five months and ordered to pay a fine of $20,100. Love was sentenced to three years of probation – including three months of home confinement – and ordered to pay a fine of $1,100.
OSHA’s investigation found that, on Oct. 30, 2012, the 21-year-old employee suffered fatal injuries when a rack containing hot aluminum parts tipped over and pinned him in an oven. A co-worker also suffered severe injuries. In a settlement agreement with OSHA, Extrudex Aluminum accepted one willful and seven serious citations, and agreed to pay a $112,000 penalty.
The indictment states Carder and Love devised a plan to coerce subordinates – by suggesting their jobs might be in jeopardy – to draft statements to recant previous emails about safety issues at the plant to conceal that management had not acted on those concerns. During an OSHA interview, Love also gave false information about safety issues, the federal agency said.
On Aug. 1, 2019, the District Court sentenced Extrudex Aluminum to three years’ probation and ordered the company to pay a $250,400 fine after it pled guilty to concealing knowledge of a felony in connection with efforts to hide information from OSHA inspectors.
The company must also have an outside safety auditor monitor their workplace for compliance for the next two years.
During the sentencing hearing, Extrudex Aluminum provided the court with information on how the company has now fully automated the extrusion heating process to prevent employee exposure to the hazard that led to the fatality.
The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio prosecuted the cases, with assistance from the Department’s OIG and OSHA.
Source: OSHA
Topics USA Workers' Compensation Ohio
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