Formation Plastics Cited After Fatality
Tuesday, November 1st, 2011WICHITA, KS – OSHA cited Formation Plastics Inc. in Quinter, KS with one serious and three willful safety and health violations. An inspection was initiated after a worker was fatally crushed between a press mold and the machine’s outer structure in May.
“It is unthinkable that an employer would allow employees to work in and around dangerous equipment that lacked machine guarding as well as appropriate lockout/tagout procedures to control the energy source,” said Charles E. Adkins, OSHA’s regional administrator in Kansas City, MO. “All employers must take the necessary steps to eliminate hazards from the workplace.”
The willful violations, carrying $210,000 in proposed fines, address hazards associated with failing to develop and utilize energy control procedures, failing to train workers in energy control, and exposing workers to moving equipment parts. A willful violation is one committed with intentional knowing or voluntary disregard for the law’s requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health.
The serious violation, with a $7,000 fine, was cited for failing to provide point-of-operation guarding on a punch press. A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.
Proposed penalties total $217,000. Formation Plastics, a custom plastic parts manufacturer, has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director in Wichita, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
The citations can be viewed here.



Our congratulations go out to one of our clients, Thybar Corporation. On Monday August 11th Thybar’s operation located in Jeffersontown,