The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Tuesday it cited Maplewood, Minnesota-based 3M Co. after a worker died at its Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, facility in May after becoming caught in a machine’s rotating rollers.
OSHA cited 3M for two willful safety violations and proposed $312,518 in penalties.
The company, OSHA said, failed to use proper procedures designed to control hazardous energy and it failed to implement energy control application steps when workers set up the production line by threading through powered rollers by hand.
OSHA said 3M, a Fortune 200 company, also allowed employees to circumvent machine guarding to cut and remove wrapped fibers from rotating powered rollers and remove fibers from the floor, exposing them to caught-in hazards.
3M, which manufactures various commercial and industrial products such as insulation and adhesives, operates 40 production plants across the U.S. It has 15 days to contest the citation and proposed penalties.
The company had another fatality in February 2022 at its facility in Alexandria, Minnesota. Â
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