FLAT ROCK, MI—No one was hurt after a fire started outside Ford’s assembly plant here Tuesday evening. Racks outside the plant caught on fire and spread flames to the building.
NEW YORK—Approximately 3.7 million workers are injured at work each year, costing businesses $170 billion annually. Injuries caused during material handling represent the majority of incidents, accounting for 32 percent of insurance claims.
DAYTON, TN—Workers at the La-Z-Boy assembly plant here have logged more than 6.8 million production hours without recording a lost-time injury case, a record for a U.S. furniture manufacturer according to industry trade group American Home Furnishings Alliance.
DETROIT—A man with a gun was subdued by workers when he slipped past security at a Fiat Chrysler assembly plant here. The morning shift had just started when the intruder appeared at the plant. Before any shots were fired, about eight workers wrestled the handgun out of the man’s hands and then held him until police arrived.
Times were tough for the Timken Co. at the start of the 21st century. In March 2000, the Canton, OH-based manufacturer of antifriction roller bearings and related components announced plans to cut 600 jobs worldwide—after having trimmed 1,700 jobs in the previous two years. It also closed plants in Australia and England, and was relying more heavily on sources of steel outside the United States.
WASHINGTON—Workplace injuries and accidents that cause employees to miss six or more days of work cost U.S. employers nearly $62 billion in 2013, according to the 2016 Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index.
ELK GROVE VILLAGE, IL—A 25-ton power press crushed a temporary worker’s right ring finger when the machine she operated cycled while her hand was inside. The incident, at a steel parts manufacturing plant here, occurred when light curtains that act as machine guards failed to work properly.
DEARBORN, MI—Since 2003, Ford has reduced the injury rate by 70 percent for its more than 50,000 “industrial athletes” in the U.S., and many more around the world, through new ergonomics technology, lift-assist devices, workstation redesign and data-driven process changes.
NEWPORT, WA—A “very significant” explosion rocked the Zodiac Aerospace assembly here, toppling large pieces of machinery, lifting an entire floor off its foundation and seriously injuring five people, authorities said.
MOLINE, IL—The U.S. Department of Labor claims Deere violated a federal whistleblower provision by firing a pipe fitter who had reported unsafe working conditions at a company’s cylinder factory here.
