3M fined $300K for Wisconsin worker death

Federal workplace safety regulators have fined 3M more than $300,000 for the death of an employee at a Wisconsin manufacturing plant in May.

OSHA said this week the Maplewood-based company "could have prevented" the employee from getting caught in a machine's rollers after a similar incident killed an employee in Minnesota in 2022.

"The tragedy of another employee's death in Wisconsin is compounded by the fact that the 3M Company completed a corporate-wide review and determined powered rollers were hazards in need of safety improvements," OSHA Regional Administrator Bill Donovan said in a news release. "The company must address these hazards immediately to protect employees from serious injuries or worse."

The employee, 57-year-old Trisha Jones of Harpers Ferry, Iowa, became caught in a machine while setting up a plastic extrusion line, according to OSHA and police reports.

Jones had worked at the Prairie du Chien factory for 23 years, according to her obituary. The plant has about 500 employees and is the second-largest employer in the southwest Wisconsin city of 5,500.

OSHA fined 3M $312,000 for two willful serious violations related to safety procedures for hand-threading machinery.

"The 3M plant allowed workers to circumvent machine guarding to cut and remove wrapped fibers from rotating powered rollers and to remove fibers from the floor, which exposed them to caught-in hazards," OSHA stated.

The company can contest the fine and violations.

"The safety and health of all our employees is our top priority, and we are deeply saddened by this tragic incident," 3M said in a statement. "3M has continued to implement improvements and investments to help prevent similar incidents in the future, and communicated these improvements to our employees at the worksite."