PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, WIS. - Trisha Jones worked at 3M’s factory in Prairie du Chien for 23 years, but she dreamed of opening her own café after she retired.
She had already picked the location, right near her home.
Jones, 57, died on the job last spring in the second fatal accident at a 3M factory within 15 months. The deaths were similar. Like Jones, a worker at 3M’s Alexandria, Minn., plant in 2022 was caught and crushed in the rollers of a running machine.
After the Alexandria accident, 3M did a corporate-wide review and determined that machine rollers were hazards needing safety improvements — “compounding” the misfortune of Jones’ death, according to federal workplace regulators.
In November, they slapped 3M with two rare “willful” safety violations, which are reserved for the most egregious infractions. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issues willful citations only when it believes a company shows “intentional disregard” or “plain indifference” to worker safety.
“There is a major stigma that goes along with a willful citation,” said Jordan Barab, deputy assistant secretary at OSHA during the Obama administration. “It’s one of OSHA’s most valuable tools.”
Employers will almost always contest willful violations given the reputational taint they carry, he added.
Maplewood-based 3M is no exception.