A carpet manufacturing plant where a worker was recently killed, has been under investigation before for safety hazards.
On March 20, Mohawk Industries employee Roy Glenn Bass, 59, died after being struck by a large roller at the company’s Chatsworth, GA facility. According to reports, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is still completing its investigation, which could take several weeks to complete. Local police stated there are no criminal charges forthcoming related to the accident.
"Realistically, it was an industrial accident,” Chatsworth Police Chief Josh Etheridge told the Suwannee Democrat. "A large roller came off and struck the gentleman. I wish I could tell you what kind of machine it was, but I have never worked in a carpet factory. Apparently, the actual roller broke free of the machine.”
The March accident isn’t the first time Mohawk Industries has come under investigation. The Chatsworth Times reports that in September 2017 another employee, Vickie Dyer, was killed after being pulled into a coaster rollup machine at the plant. After an investigation, the company was fined $12,934 for “serious safety violations”.
The paper also reports that as of March 1, Mohawk Industries, and its subsidiaries, have more than $1 million ins find for OSHA safety violations at its properties.
