Geneva Plant Worker Hospitalized After Trapped In Conveyor Belt
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A worker was airlifted from a Geneva manufacturing company Friday morning after she became trapped inside a machine.
Now the Department of Labor is looking into the accident.
CBS 2 Investigator Megan Hickey has been looking into the company's track record, which is checkered with some safety concerns.
The massive Power Packaging facility here in Geneva is one of three in the area. They've been cited for hazards in the past. The company told CBS 2 they're focused on figuring out how and why an employee had to be airlifted to a level 1 trauma center.
A job site turned into the scene of an accident investigation early Friday morning. The emergency call for ambulances went out around 6:30 Friday morning at Power Packaging on Pillsbury Drive in Geneva.
The female employee was unconscious and trapped in a conveyor belt assembly. And maintenance staff had to pull the machine apart to get her out. No word so far on the extent of her injuries
But they were significant enough that she had to be airlifted to the hospital. A spokesperson for the dried and dehydrated food manufacturer said the employee was a temporary agency worker and they're investigating what went wrong.
So is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, which opened up a new case.
New, because this company's facilities have been cited in the past for safety hazards concerning "general requirements for all machines."
In 2015 the company was also cited for exposing employees to "combustible dust fire hazards." On Friday, a spokesperson said it's currently focused on Friday's incident and they're not in a position to speculate about the cause.
OSHA has six months to complete its investigation, issue citations and propose penalties if violations are found. Geneva's fire chief told CBS 2 another employee was also treated for injuries this morning but was released at the scene.
