Fabcon Precast pleads guilty to willfully violating OSHA safety rule resulting in employee death
Fabcon Precast LLC, a Delaware corporation with a manufacturing facility in Grove City, Ohio, has pleaded guilty in federal court in the Southern District of Ohio to willfully violating an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rule. The company, which manufactures precast concrete panels, was charged in connection with the death of 20-year-old employee Zachary Ledbetter.
On June 6, 2020, Ledbetter, a batch operator at Fabcon since January 2020, was working with the facility’s only concrete mixer, which discharges concrete through a pneumatic door. The pneumatic energy used to power the door is supposed to be released by an exhaust valve, rendering it inoperable during maintenance. However, the handle to the valve had broken off months before and was not replaced. When the door failed to close after a concrete batch was released, Ledbetter attempted to free it manually. The door then closed on his head, trapping him. He was later transported to a hospital and died five days later.
Federal law classifies willful failure to follow an OSHA safety standard that results in an employee’s death as a class B misdemeanor—the only federal criminal charge available for such violations. The case was investigated by the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General and prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Cullman. The announcement was made by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Kelly A. Norris for the Southern District of Ohio, and Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Megan Howell of the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General, Great Lakes Region.
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About the Author
Alexis GajewskiAlexis Gajewski
Senior Content Strategist
Alexis Gajewski is a manufacturing writer and editor with nearly 20 years of experience covering the people, practices, and technologies that keep industrial facilities running. For more than a decade, she served as Senior Content Strategist for Plant Services, creating content for plant managers, engineers, and maintenance professionals on a variety of industrial topics.
During her tenure, Alexis worked to develop the brand’s digital strategy and helped launch and produce Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast. She also created The Lighter Side of Manufacturing, a weekly blog that explored the inventive and sometimes humorous side of the industry.
Alexis co-founded Influential Women in Manufacturing, a recognition program that honored 49 women in its first two years, earned an industry award for Best Product Launch, and received a proclamation from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and a commendation from U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth.
She also led newsroom operations and development at a large media company where she set editorial standards, developed training curriculum, and helped support AI adoption for more than 150 editors across 80+ brands spanning manufacturing, industrial processing, automation, and more.
Additionally, Alexis works as a freelance writer and editor, and her areas of interest include continuous improvement, the skilled workforce, and the role of emerging technology on the plant floor.
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