After Man Dies In Steel Company Machine, The Firm's Safety Record Is Examined
CHICAGO (CBS) -- CBS 2 is pushing for answers about the 26-year-old worker killed Thursday morning after being trapped inside a machine at his Schaumburg steel company.
2 Investigator Megan Hickey has been digging into the company's safety record and found it was already the subject of another accident investigation.
The call came just as the workday began. Schaumburg fire and police were called to a steel and aluminum supply company in the 1900 block of Mitchell Boulevard.
Schaumburg police told CBS 2 the 26-year-old worker had died by they time they arrived. A spokesperson couldn't tell CBS 2 what kind of machinery took his life. But she described him as being "pinned underneath it."
Tragically, it's a company that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, was already familiar with. California-based EMJ Metals has about 30 locations across the country.
The Schaumburg facility specifically had been cited in 2017 after a worker lost three fingers to a circular saw machine. The company was issued six violations totaling more than $65,000 for hazardous energy and machine safety requirements.
On Friday, CBS 2 asked an OSHA spokesperson about the case, which the company is actively fighting.
"Because the company contested the last round of citations, OSHA won't make comment on that," said OSHA spokesperson Scott Allen.
EMJ employees tell CBS 2 a 28-year-old worker also died at the facility in 2008 in an accident involving a crane. CBS 2 reached out to the company's corporate headquarters and visited the Schaumburg office in person.
CBS 2 was given a company contact to call. But still no response.
On Friday, Schaumburg police stressed that it does not believe there was any foul play involved in the accident and do not consider it a criminal matter.
OSHA has six months to complete its latest investigations.