MLFCCA

TAFT —
Taft Grain Elevator Co. faces a $188,000 fine after being accused of 20 safety violations in an inspection sparked by the death of a worker in November.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said in a news release that the citations and fine are part of a string of enforcement actions against grain operators across the country after a spike in grain entrapment deaths.

Taft Grain Elevator also faces a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the family of Arnulfo “Ernie” Medina, 51, who had worked at the company for about five weeks when a massive pile of sorghum he was standing on pulled him under on Nov. 9. It took rescuers more than eight hours to pull his body out.

Company officials and a lawyer for the company could not be reached for comment.

OSHA said violations at the company included failure to provide safety harnesses and rescue equipment, failure to lock out equipment to prevent accidental startup, training lapses, and failure to clean combustible dust from work surfaces.

After the accident, elevator manager Chris Keeney said Medina was supposed to be wearing a company-issued safety harness, but a co-worker said he did not know whether Medina was wearing it.

“These people work hard at these jobs but they’re not sophisticated workers,” said John Escamilla, an attorney in McAllen who represents the Medina family in the lawsuit. “They are entirely dependent upon the safety training of their employers for their well-being.”

At least 26 workers were killed in grain entrapments last year, the highest death toll since Purdue University researchers started tracking grain entrapments in 1978, according to OSHA.

Last month, a man was trapped for five hours up to his chest in a grain elevator at Corpus Christi Grain Co.

Employees said the man was working alone inside the grain elevator when a load of grain was dumped, trapping him. When he didn’t return from his shift, employees searched for about an hour and found him. He suffered minor injuries.