CRANE ACCIDENT AK Steel fires one worker, suspends 10
MIDDLETOWN, Ohio (AP) -- AK Steel Corp. has fired one employee and suspended 10 others in connection with a crane accident that killed a worker last month at a mill here, a union official said Wednesday.
Four of the 10 other workers could face discipline including possible firing. The company heard an appeal from the four Tuesday, said Ed Shelley, president of the Armco Employees Independent Federation. He expects the company's decisions in about five days. Six other workers were suspended without pay for a varying number of days, Shelley said.
The union, which represents more than 3,100 AK Steel workers in Middletown, disputes the punishments and will seek independent arbitration to rescind them if necessary, Shelley said. Shelley said the discipline is premature because investigations by federal safety regulators, union and company representatives have not been completed.
All of the workers involved are plant maintenance employees, Shelley said. He declined to say why the company linked them with the accident.
On July 10, the lifting block of an overhead crane in the plant fell on a forklift, killing the forklift operator, Ralph Eric Jones, 41. The steel block weighed at least 3,000 pounds, federal workplace safety investigators said. No one else was hurt.