State officials trying to find cause of accident that killed Williamsburg worker

Kentucky Occupational Safety Health officials are currently working to determine the cause of an industrial accident that claimed the life of a Williamsburg man Saturday evening.
Whitley County Coroner Andy Croley pronounced Josh Wilson, 24, of Highway 204, dead at 11:05 p.m. at the Williamsburg Plastics plant.
State medical examiners in Frankfort performed an autopsy Sunday, and determined that Wilson died from injuries he sustained to his chest during the accident. He died instantly, Croley said.
“Everything as to why the accident occurred, that is why we are investigating,” said Steve Sparrow, director of compliance for the Kentucky Occupational Safety and Health Office.
The accident occurred about 10:45 p.m.
Wilson was removing plastic stuck in a mold on a Mitsubishi injection-molding machine when the machine cycled while Wilson was standing between the dyes, and crushed him, Sparrow said.
“He was asked to check on a machine by a co-worker, which he did. Not much is known after that,” Croley said.
The cause of the accident hasn’t been determined.
“We try to do a thorough investigation before we start releasing information as to the cause,” Sparrow said. “We investigate all fatalities that occur in the work place in Kentucky. An exception to that would be homicides and heart attacks, and things of that type. If it is caused by the work place we do a fatality investigation.”
Sparrow said investigators have to issue their findings within six months, but that he would anticipate this investigation wrapping up in about four to six weeks.
“This one should be relatively straight forward, but we do try to follow all leads. If somebody says something is going on, we try to follow all of those leads,” Sparrow noted.
He said the investigation is still ongoing. Interviews are being scheduled with employees at the plant, and inspections are being made.
Croley estimates that there were probably 50 to 75 people working at the plant at the time of the accident.
According to the company’s website, the plant operates seven days per week, 24 hours per day.
The plant shutdown Saturday evening after the accident.
State investigators arrived in Williamsburg Sunday morning, and gave the authorization to open the factory again mid-day Sunday. The plant started up operations again Monday morning, Croley said.
Through its investigation, the Kentucky Occupational Safety and Health Office determines whether the factory was in compliance with safety and health regulations.
If the company were determined not to have been in compliance, then it could be cited and possibly face monetary fines.
In 2001, the Williamsburg Plastics was cited for one serious violation and one other less than serious violation. Those citations involved electrical problems, but nothing involving the press involved in this accident, Sparrow said.
According to the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, Williamsburg Plastics opened in 1992.
The 150,000 square foot facility employees 320 people, has 33 presses ranging from 150 tons to 1,450 tons, and does work requiring large tonnage injection molding machines, according to the company’s website.
The company is a division of Jones Plastic & Engineering, and is the company’s second largest facility.
Calls to the local plant Tuesday were referred to Joe Weis, the corporate director of human resources. Weis could not be reached at his office Tuesday morning, and had not returned a voice mail message by press time.
A Feb. 20, 2003, dust explosion at the CTA Acoustics plant near Corbin in southern Laurel County killed seven people, and injured 43 others.
Croley said this is the first fatality stemming from an industrial accident that he can remember in Whitley County in recent years.
“For Whitley County it is very rare,” he noted.
Wilson is a 1998 graduate of Whitley County High School, and is survived by his parents, Emby Coy Wilson and Linda Patrick Wilson of Williamsburg.
Wilson’s funeral service was slated for 1 p.m. Wednesday at the Croley Funeral Home Chapel with the Rev. Gerald Parks officiating.
Other agencies assisting at the scene or with the current investigation included: the Whitley County Sheriff’s Department, Kentucky State Police, Williamsburg Police Department, Woodbine and Three Point volunteer fire departments.