Callahan & Blaine

Six months ago, 18-year-old Enrique Vasquez Garcia died in a workplace accident. On Tuesday, the Santa Ana-based company, Aardvark Clay & Supplies Inc. was fined $250,160 in connection with the fatal workplace accident, Cal/OSHA officials announced.

The clay supply company was cited for the Sept. 20 workplace accident at 1400 E. Pomona St. that killed Garcia. He sustained amputation, puncture and asphyxia-related injuries and died after he was sucked into a clay-making machine called a pug mill.

He was packaging clay blocks after they were cut into a proper size, but got “entangled” in the machine when he tried to see why clay ceased going through an extruder, the state agency reported.

Cal/OSHA said the company had removed safeguards on the machine and faulted it for not training workers on the device before the accident.

“Pug mills have rotating blades that can cause amputations and fatally injure employees,” said Cal/OSHA Chief Juliann Sum. “Employers must ensure all machinery and its parts are properly guarded, and employees are effectively trained to prevent tragic accidents like this.”

The company has five clay mixers and four clay extruders, which had openings without coverings to protect employees, the agency reported.

The company removed safeguards on the machines prior to the accident because it believed they slowed production, according to Cal/OSHA.

Accidents like these often leave families with the right to pursue a claim. As one of the leading catastrophic personal injury law firms in California, Callahan & Blaine has obtained numerous record-breaking verdicts and settlements in cases like this, helping bring some small justice to the aggrieved family. If you or someone you know has suffered a catastrophic injury or died as the result of an accident, contact the best personal injury attorneys in Orange County for expert legal counsel.