A Fire and Tragic Death Caused the Shutdown of a GM Plant
A fight between two third-party employees at a GM plant in Michigan resulted in one death.
Written by Allison Stone
Reviewed by Kathleen Flear
Tragedy struck recently at a
Chevrolet
plant when a fight broke out resulting in the death of one worker. The fight took place at General Motors' Orion Assembly plant in Orion Township, Michigan which manufactures the Chevy Bolt. The plant was shut down the day of for investigation, but regular production resumed the next morning.
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A factory fight that escalated too far
According to
USA Today
, the homicide that occurred at the Orion Township plant was listed as homicide as the result of “multiple blunt force injures,” said Cas Miarka, an administrator at the medical examiner's office.While a possible motive for the incident remainds under investigation, one suspect was taken into custody at Oakland Country Jail. The victim was a 49-year-old man who had worked at the plant for about seven months, but both the victim and the suspect were employees of a third-party service provider that was hired to clean the building.
While most factories, including the GM facility where the incident occurred, have security, incidents are still possible. During non-production shifts, however, the factories operate on a bare-bones staff of personnel like security and the cleaning crew.
Another deadly incident occurred at a Michigan-based automotive factory in 2017, when a part-time employee shot himself following a dispute. The incident took place at Ford Motor Co's. Woodhaven Stamping Plant.
Instances like the deadly fight that occurred at the Chevrolet plant seem like a rare occurrence, but it could also be an indicator that more security or oversight may be necessary to prevent future incidents.
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What GM officials had to say about the tragedy
GM spokesman Dan Flores spoke on the matter on behalf on the company, stating that “our thoughts and prayers go out to the victim's family," but did not specify whether any further action would be taken within the plant itself aside from a discussion with employees.
"We will start the shift with a discussion about the recent incident at the plant and the support services available to employees," said Flores in a statement reported by USA Today.
GM had been facing production woes for a myriad of reasons, but had just restarted production of the Bolt and Bolt EUV in April. While the automaker has been eager to get drivers into the new electric Bolt and Bolt EUV, the car has been subject to a massive amount of recalls.
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