A Rockford-based company pleaded guilty to willfully violating Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations, resulting in the death of an employee at the company’s facility in South Beloit, Ill.
Behr Iron & Steel Inc., a high volume ferrous and nonferrous scrap processor, admitted in a plea agreement that on March 10, 2014, the company failed to provide lockout/tagout protection and confined space protection as required under OSHA regulations for the company’s employees who were cleaning a shredder discharge pit.
The company admitted that those violations caused the death of an employee who got caught in a moving, unguarded conveyor belt.
The Company faces a maximum sentence of 5 years’ probation, a maximum fine of $500,000, and restitution to the victim employee in an amount determined by the Court. Sentencing is scheduled for July 12, 2016, at 1:30 p.m.
The guilty plea was announced by Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and Ken Nishiyama Atha, Regional Administrator of OSHA in Chicago.
"Justice cannot restore life to the victim whose body was crushed because Behr Iron and Steel failed to provide protection from dangerous machinery on the job," said Mr. Atha. "Safety training at the plant was woefully insufficient. Behr must be held responsible by the courts for ignoring safety standards and failing in its obligation to protect its workers on the job."
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Key Facts
- State: Illinois
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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