Caterpillar Inc. is contesting two citations plus penalties of more than $32,000 issued by the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration in December, resulting from its inspection of a fatal accident in June 2024 at the manufacturer’s foundry in Mapleton, IL.
The manufacturer has not commented on the matter, and OSHA lists it as open case.
The incident happened June 6, 2024, when employee Daulton Simmers died from injuries suffered in a molten metal spill.
According to OSHA’s December 2 report: “The employer did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees, in that employees were exposed to fire hazards”.
Both violations are classified as “serious,” which in OSHA terminology identifies a violation from which death or serious physical harm may result, and about which an employer knew or should have known exists.
The foundry casts gray iron for engine blocks and other components of Caterpillar's agricultural, construction, and mining equipment.
The June 2024 incident was the third fatal accident at the foundry in a two-year period. In one of those incidents OSHA cited and fined a contractor working at the foundry, not the manufacturer.