Last night, after all the funeral proceedings were over, several "old friends" got together to talk. It was then I found out what really happened last thursday.
It all started wed. night. (The plant runs 2 10-hour shifts per day) The 2nd shift electrician is new. In fact, he's still titled "temporary". He was told there was a problem with the spot welder. He spent a couple hours looking for the problem. (Operator kept getting a shock when he touched the table it sits on) The temp. elect. took all the covers off the welder, but never found a problem. Instead of reporting the problem to 1st shift, he just re-installed all the covers and went home. OSHA inspectors found the power cord cut and bare wires in contact with the table leg. When L.D. powered up the welder, he was leaning against the table. Apparently, that's all it took.
When confronted about why he didn't tag or disable the welder until the problem was found, the temp left, and never returned.
The company is a defense contractor, and is closely scrutenized by the government. OSHA was on the spot with-in hours. They're STILL there interviewing other employees regarding saftey proceedures that aren't normally followed. Production can't resume until all the problems are solved.
Larry's wife is already in contact with a lawyer. She's after the company and the union. NO ONE will stand up and take responsibility for what happened. It was an accident, but an AVOIDABLE accident. Yeah, now the anger is coming out in me over what happened.
