Worker Crushed to Death in Auto Unit

CHENNAI: A 34-year-old worker was crushed to death in an automobile component factory at Sriperumpudur on Wednesday as he was attempting to repair a malfunction in a machine.

The victim P Vasudevan, a resident of Putlur village in Tiruvallur district, was an employee in the maintenance wing of the Sungwoo Gestamp Hitech Private Ltd, a joint venture of a Korean and a Spain automotive company, whose factory is located in the SIPCOT Industrial Park at Irungattukottai.

Police said Vasudevan was attending a minor malfunction in the automatic assembly line at around 6:45 pm when accidentally the pressing machine crushed him. Having suffered severe injury in the chest, he died on the spot.

“It seems that he was trying to pick up something from a lower portion in the machine when the pressing unit got activated and crushed him. The body was lying in a horizontal position,” said inspector Nagalingam.

A section of workers alleged that it was the laxity on part of the management that led to the death. “We had already complained that a safety bar, that will prevent such incidents, was not functioning properly in the machines. But the management did not show adequate attention over this, resulting in the accident,” said a co-worker of Vasudevan. The company was a supplier of sheet metal parts to leading car manufacturing companies in India and abroad.

However, police said they are yet to ascertain whether negligence was the reason for the accident. The Sriperumpudur Police have registered a case of suspicious death and are investigating.

“There is no first hand evidence in the case as none of the employees had actually witnessed the accident and there were no CCTVs,” the police officer said.

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The New Indian Express
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