Progress Rail hit with $55K safety fine

MUNCIE – The state has levied fines against Muncie’s Progress Rail locomotive plant after finding safety violations.

The state fined the Cowan Road plant a total of $55,000. Of that amount, $5,000 was for a “serious” violation that exposed workers to “crush hazards” and $50,000 was for knowing the safety hazard existed and not addressing it.

What Progress Rail knew about the hazard and why it didn’t address it isn’t public knowledge yet, Indiana Department of Labor spokesman Amanda Stanley told The Star Press.

“Progress Rail Services has requested an informal settlement meeting,” Stanley said. “Therefore, we withhold further comment until the results of that meeting are known.”

Progress Rail spokesman Amy Everett told The Star Press they had been notified of the safety order.

“We take this notification seriously and are currently evaluating the order and working with Indiana OSHA to respond,” she said. “Although we do not comment on pending legal matters, we can say that employees’ health and safety is of utmost importance to Progress Rail.”

The plant, which opened in the former Westinghouse/ABB plant on Cowan Road after a 2010 announcement, employed about 500 people in February, when it was adding workers. The plant, a division of Caterpillar, makes railroad locomotives, many of them for international uses.

According to the state’s “Safety Order and Notification of Penalty,” state employees inspected the Progress Rail plant in January and found the violations.

“The employer did not establish and maintain conditions of work which were reasonably safe and healthful for employees and free from recognized hazards that were likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees in that employees were exposed to crush hazards from a pneumatic pump which they were not adequately trained to operate,” the safety order noted.

The pneumatic pump “used on a regular and routine basis by up to and including 18 employees to transfer compressor oil drums to locomotive compressors was missing a muffler and circlip, exposing employees to a shearing hazard,” the state added.

Stanley said the missing circlip was part of a guard that “prevents an employee’s hand/finger from entering the hole while attempting to engage the on/off switch.”

In instances like this, the employer can request an informal review and settle citations through negotiations with the IOSHA division director, contest the violation and penalty or pay the original penalty and correct the violations.

Contact Keith Roysdon at 765-213-5828 and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.