No criminal charges in death at Mohawk plant

Published 9:10 am Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Roy Glenn Bass died on March 20 after being struck by a large roller at the Mohawk facility at 1149 Duvall Road. A complete autopsy from the state crime lab has not been finished and could take “several weeks,” county coroner Jason Gibson said.

Etheridge said his office has turned its investigative material over to the coroner’s office, which he said would forward it to to OSHA.

“Realistically, it was an industrial accident,” Etheridge said. “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.”

OSHA Atlanta office spokesman Michael D’Aquino said last week OSHA is investigating the incident but gave no indication of how long the investigation would take.

Messages left for Mohawk officials have not been returned. The company released a statement on the day of Bass’ death stating the cause of the incident “remains unknown at this time.”

It was the second death at the facility in seven months. In September 2017, 42-year-old Vickie Dyer of Chatsworth died from injuries sustained at the facility. OSHA notified Mohawk of a proposed fine of $12,934 on Feb. 28 for that incident. OSHA wrote of a carpet roll up area, “On or about Sept. 2, 2017, and at times prior, the employer exposed employees to caught in between hazards, in that machine guarding was not provided to employees while working near rotating parts.”

The citation said Mohawk must provide “methods of machine guarding” to “protect the operator and other employees in the machine area from hazards such as those created by point of operation, ingoing nip points, rotating parts, flying chips and sparks. Examples of guarding methods are barrier guards, two-hand tripping devices, electronic safety devices, etc.”

The citation said the violation was “corrected during inspection.”