Report: Problems at Sapulpa glass container plant have been fixed

SAPULPA, Okla. (AP) -- A glass container plant has fixed safety problems found by federal investigators after a worker was crushed to death in assembly line machinery May 3, according to U.S.

Department of Labor report.

Maria E. Constancio, 35, died at the Ball-Foster Glass Container plant when her clothes were caught in assembly line machinery, authorities said.

Immediately afterward, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspected the plant and four "serious" safety violations, the report said. Ball-Foster did not contest the violations and paid $10,000 in fines, OSHA spokeswoman Gladys Ray said.

The report said the problems, which have been fixed, included palletizer machine operators unsafely trying to unjam machines and employees failing to unplug machines to prevent the hazard of being caught in the machine during automatic restart. The report said machine operators who unjammed machines were not provided with devices or hardware for securing energy sources and that lockout procedures for the palletizers and other machines were not reviewed by company authorities.