An Alabama Hyundai supplier must pay $1.3 million in penalties related to a fatal 2016 workplace accident that investigators say was preventable.

The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission this week affirmed citations issued by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to Joon LLC – operating as AJIN USA.

The company contested OSHA fines after an investigation into how Regina Elsea was crushed to death in June 2016 at the company’s Cusseta facility.

OSHA inspectors determined that the machine operator and three co-workers entered a robotic cell on the assembly line to clear a sensor fault when a robot inside the cell restarted abruptly.

An inspection uncovered 51 safety violations, including 48 willful ones. A judge Tuesday upheld the majority of those penalties, totaling $1.3 million.

A 2020 decision originally set $1.5 million in fines.

Department of Labor Regional Solicitor Tremelle Howard said the case is a “stark reminder to all employers that the U.S. Department of Labor will exhaust all available resources and actions to hold them accountable when they fail to meet federal requirements to protect the safety and health of their employees.”

Elsea worked at Ajin USA’s metal stamping plant in Cusseta Industrial Park in Chambers County.

On June 18, 2016, Eslea entered an enclosure, called a “cell,” containing several robots and other pieces of machinery. While she was inside the cell troubleshooting a sensor fault, she was crushed when one of the machines started up unexpectantly.

Federal protocols calls for de-energizing machinery during maintenance to prevent unplanned startups, otherwise known as “lockout” or “tagout.” But investigators said Ajin knew that supervisors did not effectively enforce those procedures.

Investigators found that, in the 15 minutes prior to Elsea’s fatal injury, workers entered cells to troubleshoot machinery, with supervisors watching, without following lockout/tagout, no less than five times.

In two other instances, the supervisors themselves entered a cell without following procedures. At the time of Elsea’s fatal injury, several people were inside the cell.

Based in Korea, AJIN USA is a global supplier of parts to Hyundai and Kia. At the time of Elsea’s death, the manufacturer employed about 700 workers at Cusseta.