Mill closes for two days after worker's death

WARREN -- WCI Steel closed the plant's hot strip mill for more than two days to allow investigators access after the weekend death of Franklin Zimmerman, 62, of Struthers, a mechanical technician at the plant.
Company officials said Zimmerman, a 15-year veteran of WCI, was pinned and crushed during a maintenance procedure in the hot strip mill shortly before 9:30 a.m. Saturday.
The department resumed operations Monday afternoon.
WCI safety officials and representatives from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating.
The Trumbull County Coroner's Office has ruled the death accidental.
Arrangements are being handled by Fox Funeral Home. Zimmerman worked in the steel industry since 1969 and joined WCI in 1987.
Tim Roberts, company spokesman, said the plant last recorded a fatality in 1996, after an accident in the coated products department.
Located on Pine Avenue in Warren, WCI is the Mahoning Valley's only remaining integrated steel producer, making steel from scratch using coke, iron ore and limestone.
It employs 1,900.