A fatality was reported last week at a Renton, Washington recycling plant. A 25-year-old woman was reportedly dragged into a machine at the Smurfit-Stone Recycling operation while she was attempting to unjam it. While details are often scant in early reports, first responders apparently cut power to the machine, but it took 23 minutes to remove the victim, who was trapped under a large amount of material.
From the initial coverage, it is not clear where the safety system broke down - whether the issue was training, guarding, lockout/tagout or other issue.
As I have said in the past, the time to act is before a tragedy. There are many specific health & safety resources available for recycling operations, including from OSHA, and ISRI. ISRI has useful "2-Minute Drill" videos targeting worker safety.
For more information, visit our health and safety resources section.
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