Oxford News

RECENT DEATHS AT AK STEEL

• On Aug. 24, 2008, Michael Lewis died when a tractor-trailer's tire exploded.

• On March 3, 2007, a man working for RMB — Rodolfo "Rudy" Guzman, 52, from Lebanon — at AK Steel was killed instantly and another man was injured. The two were changing a tire on a tractor-trailer inside the plant when the tire separated from the rim and exploded.

• On May 4, 2006, Curtis E. Johnson, a 54-year-old contract worker from Newark, Ohio, was working in the coke plant when he was struck by a moving piece of coke plant equipment. The worker died later aboard a medical helicopter en route to a Dayton hospital.

Source: Cox News Service

MIDDLETOWN — Safety officials are expected to arrive today to investigate the third accidental death of a worker at AK Steel in the past three years.

Michael Lewis, 26, of West Carrollton was fatally injured in an apparent industrial accident at AK Steel, 1801 Crawford St., around 2 a.m., Sunday, Aug. 24, while working in a truck maintenance area, according to Middletown police.

Lewis was an employee of Bowling Transportation, a Fostoria-based company that leases employees to RMB Enterprises. He was changing a tire on a tractor-trailer when the tire exploded, said Jeff Beck, RMB's general manager

This is the second death involving RMB Enterprises, a Fostoria-based contractor, at AK Steel in the past 18 months and the third death of a contract worker at the plant since May 2006. The Butler County Coroner's Office is scheduled to perform an autopsy this morning, according to Coroner Dr. Richard Burkhardt.

Beck said RMB contacted the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Sunday morning and that OSHA investigators are scheduled to be on site today.

"We have 12 very specific job safety procedures dealing with all the tire work we do," Beck said. "The early signs appear that all the procedures were being followed."

Beck said Lewis had been working for RMB for nearly a year. He is survived by his wife Jeri, a 13-year-old daughter Amber Satterfield and an 11-year-old son Mason Satterfield.

"It's a tragic loss to everyone here at RMB," Beck said. "He was a great employee and good family man. He coached his girl's basketball team and was very well liked by those he worked with at the company and in the mill."

RMB has been working with AK Steel for almost 10 years, Beck said. The company manages 154 workers who transport steel coils from place to place inside the facility and are charged with doing routine maintenance on the trucks that transport the coils.