In June 2016, Elsea and three co-workers went inside the Cusseta facility’s robotic cell along an assembly line to clear a sensor fault, officials said. That was when a robot inside the cell turned on and crushed her, according to the US Department of Labor. — Photo by Simon Kadula on Unsplash
A robot at a Hyundai and Kia supplier’s facility suddenly restarted and crushed a 20-year-old employee to death, US federal officials said.
Now the car parts supplier, AJIN USA, will pay over US$1.3mil in penalties more than six years after the woman died at the company’s facility in Cusseta, Alabama, according to the US Department of Labor.
A judge upheld most of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s citations for 51 safety violations over the machine operator’s death after AJIN USA contested the findings of the agency’s investigation, the Department of Laborannounced in a March 8 news release.
“No violation or penalty can recover a life lost needlessly,” Department of Labor Regional Solicitor Tremelle Howard said in a statement.
McClatchy News left a message with AJIN USA seeking comment on March 9 and didn’t immediately hear back.
Regina Elsea died two weeks before she was supposed to get married, CBS 42 reported in December 2016.
What led to the employee’s death?
In June 2016, Elsea and three co-workers went inside the Cusseta facility’s robotic cell along an assembly line to clear a sensor fault, officials said.
That was when a robot inside the cell turned on and crushed her, according to the US Department of Labor.
In 2020, AJIN USA pleaded guilty in a criminal case over Elsea’s death and was ordered to pay US$1.5mil in fines and restitution, according to the Justice Department.
OSHA standards require employers to de-energize machinery during servicing activities, such as clearing a sensor fault, as a safety precaution, prosecutors said in a November 2020 news release.
Fifteen minutes before Elsea was crushed by a robotic arm, the machinery inside the robotic cell wasn’t de-energized in a procedure known as a “lockout/tagout,” according to prosecutors.
“Failing to lock out equipment causes far too many serious injuries and deaths,” OSHA Regional Administrator Kurt Petermeyer in Atlanta said in a statement. “In this case, a young woman lost her life because her employer took shortcuts to minimize downtime and maintain production.”
When Elsea was killed, roughly 700 employees worked at AJIN USA’s facility in Cusseta, according to officials.
AJIN USA is headquartered in South Korea and supplies Hyundai and Kia parts across the globe. – The Charlotte Observer/Tribune News Service
