Huber Heights company cited in workplace accident

HUBER HEIGHTS — Fukuvi USA Inc., a plastic extrusion company in Huber Heights, has been cited for safety violations after an investigation into an Oct. 6 workplace accident.

A 31-year-old man suffered an injury to his left arm when it got caught in a machine as he fed a plastic part into it at Fukuvi, 7631 Progress Court, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Cincinnati Office.

The company was cited for a “willful safety violation” because the machine did not have a proper safety guard in place that would have prevented the accident, according to the release.

The company has been ordered to pay $49,000 in penalties and is required to abate the safety hazard and pass a future inspection by OSHA.

In a prepared statement, OSHA’s Area Director in Cincinnati Ken Montgomery said injuries like this are preventable when companies install proper safety guards and train workers on safety procedures.

“Each year, hundreds of workers are injured while operating machinery without required safe guards,” Montgomery said. “OSHA inspectors found this machine had been in use for at least a year without the proper guarding in place. It is fortunate no one else was injured.”

Fukuvi can contest the citation and penalties. Otherwise the company has until February to make the necessary changes.

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Huber Heights company cited in workplace accident