Dangerous Work at Goodyear?

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LOTO and proper safety harness use could have saved all these lives. I worked in a factory for 10 years and have gone through the safety training many many times. I used to carry my LOTO lock on my belt loop. I used it daily.
 
It's not always lax safety or oblivious management. Sometimes, the harder you try, the more people resist changing from their old ways. It's easy to talk safety at meetings....much different to actually walk the walk out in the facility when no one is watching.
 
They don't have tag-out,lock-out? And never mind what operations says about a machine being off line. Go out and have a look for yourself. True story. Two coal handling operators were unloading a 100 car coal train when shift ended,
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leaving completion of unloading to oncoming crew. Empty cars were across the main road back to coal handling building so employees returned to coal handling via ash haul road . Employees cleaned up and left coal handling via the main road and drove into side of empty coal car at about 40 mph. Both were seriously injured. You have to have all the hundred billion neural connections working 24/7.
 
2 Energy Lock Out deaths, 1 material handling death and 1 fall hazard death. Sounds like a systemic problem in that plant.
 
Originally Posted By: BobsArmory
2 Energy Lock Out deaths, 1 material handling death and 1 fall hazard death. Sounds like a systemic problem in that plant.


I agree with you.
It's one thing to have a bunch of written protocols for various tasks and another to have a genuine safety culture.
There are many cases in which a company talks safety but then pushes the first level supervisors to maintain production, which often results in the floor supervisors pushing the line workers to do things that are not entirely safe.
Safety costs money but its lack can cost serious permanent injuries and lives.
 
We spend a fortune on safety knowing poor safety costs even more ... (and it feels way better too).
 
I worked in an old tire factory for 5 years, and have been in them periodically since. Tire factories can be very dangerous places and safety procedures need to be followed! There is lots of heavy machinery and many jobs involve being close to them.

Goodyear's Danville facility is over 50 years old. I am sure they would do things differently now, but revising an old plant is expensive and tends to shutdown production.

Plus a number of those accidents seem truly odd.

Keeping in mind Chaos Theory that says things come in clumps, I am willing to discount how many accidents they had in a short time. That's why OSHA has investigations, and why I am not going to question the fines. While I am not a fan of large global businesses (even though I worked for one), I have faith that somewhere in our government, the unions, and the company, someone is trying to do the right thing.
 
Originally Posted By: CapriRacer


Goodyear's Danville facility is over 50 years old. I am sure they would do things differently now, but revising an old plant is expensive and tends to shutdown production.

Aren't a majority of Goodyear's plants in the US "old"? While they do have an established, mostly union(USW) workforce, hasn't Goodyear modernized their plants to try to keep up with Michelin and Bridgestone for OEM contracts?
 
Originally Posted By: nthach
Originally Posted By: CapriRacer


Goodyear's Danville facility is over 50 years old. I am sure they would do things differently now, but revising an old plant is expensive and tends to shutdown production.

Aren't a majority of Goodyear's plants in the US "old"? While they do have an established, mostly union(USW) workforce, hasn't Goodyear modernized their plants to try to keep up with Michelin and Bridgestone for OEM contracts?



Most of the modernization takes place in the less dangerous parts of the plant. The heavy equipment in a tire factory is generally a *life of the plant* type of thing - and when an upgrade needs to take place, it's because the machinery needs to be repaired. Replacing these types of machines with safer, modern machines is pretty much out of the question.
 
As an engineer I've provided consulting services to manufacturing facilities and developed LOTO, hazard risk assessments, etc. the truth of the matter is that OSHA requires the employers to have a plan in place and train their workers. When workers are untrained and there are no standards in place accidents happen.

Ive been in manufacturing plants where walls were covered in electric equipment, panelboards, switchboards, motor control centers etc. feeding the manufacturing floor with none of the breakers labeled as to what the breaker was feeding. Some companies balk at the expense of hiring engineers and contractors to trace out the system and develop accurate drawings. The best safety procedures mean nothing if they cannot be implemented in the first place.

Often times, a perturbed facility manager who is fired or wants to keep his job by being the only one who knows the system will purposely destroy all record drawings. You can't LOTO if you don't know where the heck the power shut-off is. Also, depending on how old the equipment is, etc., there may not be obvious disconnecting means right at the machine.

Something breaks, production is stopped and the workers job is to fix it. If they cannot safely do their job because of the environment that is the employers fault, not the workers. A worker must be trained, fill out a work procedure form provided by the employer on proper steps on how to safely do the specific task he is planning to do, worker and supervisor must sign form and then LOTO must be used. Equipment in the plant including all breakers, etc. must be clearly labeled and accurate as-built drawings on hand to determine all sources of potentially dangerous power at a machine.

I am assuming this may be an old plant suffering from some of what I mentioned above.
 
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An important step in LOTO might be another TO - Try Out once the electrical isolation is in place (try to run it, should not start)
 
While yes the saftey program is not up to par there are a few things some of you guys have to realise. Not all places are the same culture. I have worked in factories that on the outside appear to have a great saftey program yet fail on many levels. Saftey programs are often used as tools to point blame when something does go wrong and most often they make the blame point to the employee wether it is right or not. Then the same places will push saftey aside and put production first. It gets so bad that people are scared to report any injury no mater how small for fear of their jobs. I have seen many times where people are gotten rid of for petty reasons just because they had an accident. It is way more common than anyone realizes and osha can be bought. Complacency is very common also. If there is an accident that lies solely on the company you will never hear about it.

The only one who truly watches your back and keeps you safe is yourself. No one else.

1.75 million is not enough for someone's life. A vast majority of the managent should have been fired after the second accident and the plant shouldn't have produced one single thing for several months. Four deaths in a year should close the plant for a long time till every single inch is addressed but Goodyear will just pay osha off and go on about their business.
 
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Originally Posted By: Blkstanger
LOTO and proper safety harness use could have saved all these lives. I worked in a factory for 10 years and have gone through the safety training many many times. I used to carry my LOTO lock on my belt loop. I used it daily.





+1. Very much agree. I worked at a large paper mill in maintenance for many years before they closed in 2009 and safety was taken very seriously. I too carried my personal safety lock on my belt loop. Currently employed by a municipal county organization and safety awareness is a joke. The safety manager would've been fired many times over at my previous job. Management dictate's the "safety climate" at any place of employment. This Goodyear tire factory has some serious issue's.
 
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