DECATUR, Ala. (WHNT) — Following a months-long investigation into a workplace death, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined a Decatur appliance plant over $193,000, the maximum amount they can legally recommend.
On July 24, 2024, a supervisor at Haier U.S. Appliance Solutions Inc.'s Decatur GE plant died in a workplace accident. According to GE spokesperson Julie Wood, the incident happened at the Decatur refrigeration plant.
Morgan County Coroner Jeff Chunn later identified the supervisor killed as 58-year-old Rodney Terry, of Town Creek.
On Jan. 17, the U.S. Department of Labor said inspectors with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) opened an investigation of the 2024 incident. The department said the investigators found that the company "allowed workers to bypass the machine's safety doors and did not use required procedures to prevent employee injuries in the carousel-like machine."
The OSHA Area Office Director spoke about the incident and said it could have been avoided had the company put worker safety above production.
"Haier U.S. Appliance Solutions [GE's parent company] could have avoided this tragedy but put production schedules and profit ahead of employee safety. This company's troubling history of safety failures in its manufacturing processhas posed a significant risk to the more than 1,500 workers at its Decatur location who rely on a safe and healthy workplace."
Joel Batiz, OSHA Area Office Director
OSHA cited the GE plant for:
- Willful violation for failing to follow lockout/tagout procedures to "de-energize the machine before allowing service or maintenance"
- Serious violations for allowing employees to bypass interlocking safety doors
- Not maintaining routine inspections for the lockout/tagout procedures
Because of the investigation, the company is facing $193,585 in penalties, which is the maximum that OSHA can legally recommend.
GE released a statement saying it had cooperated with OSHA during the investigation of the incident but disagreed with the organizations conclusions saying:
"GE Appliances has always been and remains deeply committed to safety, and there is no issue we take more seriously as a company. We cooperated fully with OSHA on the incident investigation, but we respectfully disagree with OSHA’s conclusions. It is against company policy and company training to bypass machine safeguards and enter equipment without de-energizing and locking out the equipment.
"Our organization, and the Decatur facility in particular, has a strong safety record. Our Decatur facility was a part of OSHA’s highly regarded Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) from 1996 to 2024. The plant underwent seven extensive on-site reviews by OSHA VPP teams during that time, during which OSHA performed an in-depth review of the facility’s documentation, conducted employee interviews, and performed a wall-to-wall inspection of the plant. I’m not sure how much you know about this OSHA program, but last year there were fewer than 1,200 U.S. work sites with this respected designation, which was an explicit recognition by OSHA of the excellent safety program present at Decatur"
GE Appliances
You can read more about what the U.S. Department of Labor said in its news release on its website here.