Disney has been fined over $12,000 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), after an employee broke both arms on a conveyor belt at a Disney laundry facility last year.
According to the report, last October an employee was working alongside co-workers to unjam and realign the belt of a conveyance system after laundry bundles jammed it up. Because the machine’s rollers were so high up, the employee climbed on a cabinet to move the belt manually. But the belt was still energized so it started moving again, pulling the employee’s arms all the way up to his elbows between the tension roller and the belt.
Another employee used an emergency stop to turn off the machine but both of the other employee’s arms were broken in the incident.
OSHA investigated and ruled that the tension roller guards “had been missing for some time” and employees used their hands instead of tools to unjam the conveyor. They also found that Disney had no specific procedures on how to clear jams.
OSHA initially proposed more than $22,000 in penalties after the incident, but Disney and OSHA reached an informal settlement agreement to a lower amount of $12,431.
With the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, Congress created OSHA to ensure safe and healthful working conditions for workers by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance.