ABC Polymer Industries LLC has plead guilty to “willful violation” of OSHA safety standards. In 2017, a worker at the company’s Helena, Alabama, plant died after being dragged into unguarded moving rollers. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, employees at the facility regularly raised the guard on the machines to remove twisted plastic from the rollers, and ABC Polymer knew this was happening. The company even trained employees to remove tangled plastic from the machine while the rollers were still moving.
In a recent quote, Prim F. Escalona, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, said, “This tragic loss of life could have been avoided by following federal safety standards. We are grateful for the work of our OSHA partners in holding employers accountable for the safety of their employees. My office will use the tools available to us to protect Alabama workers and prosecute employers who willfully violate federal safety laws.”