Candidate Support Pack - Scottish Qualifications Authority

2.32
Dryer death in Detroit
Mr John McKinney, a 45-year-old worker, had
been employed for three months at Palace
Quality Services, Detroit.
He was performing a routine maintenance on
a dryer on the day of the accident.
Eyewitnesses informed the Homicide Division
of the Detriot Police Department that Mr
McKinney had been working on the discharge
side of the dryer at the time of the accident.
According to the medical examiner’s office,
Mr McKinney had suffered blunt trauma
injuries to the head and face and most likely
died immediately. The Homicide Division
ruled the death an accident.
The Michigan department of Consumer and
Industry Services — the state’s Occupational
Safety and Health Authority (OSHA) —
launched an investigation into the cause of the
accident. Its finding will determine whether it
should cite the management of the plant for
violations of OSHA’s safety regulations.
GC8N 22 — Laundry Operations Level 2
Courtesy of Laundry and Cleaning News, published September 1997
■ US: An operator was killed after being trapped inside a dryer at a detroit laundry,
Richard Neil reports
“Nothing like this has ever happened in our
115 years in business,” said Mr Don McKnight,
owner of what has long been a family business.
He speculated that Mr McKinney “did not
observe OSHA’s lockout-tagout regulations.
Everything else is just conjecture,” he stated.
Records in the Michigan OSHA office
indicated that the laundry had received citations
for two previous accidents.
In 1983, it was fined for failing to guard its
conveyors. In 1988 the fine was for negligence
in guarding its electrical systems, lack of
guarding to chains and sprockets, a failure to
guard its sling system and violations involving
folders.
During a routine safety inspection in August
1996, Palace Quality Services was fined £8400
for various violations of OSHA safety
regulations — including a rule governing
access to confined spaces. It later agreed to pay
£3000 in an informal settlement.