Smyrna Nissan Plant Fined After Worker's Death

SMYRNA, TN — The state has ordered Nissan to pay a $29,000 fine in the wake of an employee's on-the-job death in November.

Dennis Pinkston died after a "severe crushing head injury" following the industrial accident November 16. According to a report from the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Pinkston was checking repairs on a conveyor belt when he was hit by a 1,275-pound counterweight. Protective metal mesh in front of the counterweight had been removed during the conveyor belt repairs. The report says Pinkston was too close to an opening in the guard and leaned in as the belt cycled on, but that he would not have been struck had the guard been in place. For more local updates and other La Vergne and Smyrna news, click here to subscribe to the La Vergne & Smyrna Patch, or find your local Middle Tennessee Patch here.

The labor department cited the plant for failing to keep to employees out of mechanical testing areas or failing to provide machine guarding. Another citation was issued for failing to perform annual related safety inspections.

In a statement issued Friday, Nissan said it is contesting the citations.

"The safety and well-being of our employees is always our top priority. We dedicate extensive time and resources to safety programs and training at the plant. Nissan is working through TOSHA's established process to contest these citations and bring this matter to a close. We also continue to work on determining what can be done to prevent future occurrences," the statement read.

The Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspection after Pinkston's death did score the plant high overall in health and safety, but employees told TOSHA officials that sometimes guards aren't always replaced during testing because of their weight. Two weeks after Pinkston was killed, TOSHA said it was unclear what, if any, steps Nissan had taken to correct the problem.

Pinkston's brother, Keith, who also works in maintenance, told WSMV he knows "it's easy to skip steps," but he will be forever bothered by the idea that his brother's death was an avoidable accident.

"Sometimes we skip steps that we shouldn't. I mean it just it happens. Everybody gets in a hurry trying to get done it's easy to skip steps. ... I was mad at first, but once I read the report -- I mean the way the reports wrote and all that, it's obviously just an accident," he told the station. "It's an accident that could've been avoided if the guard had been put back in place. After reading that, that's going to bother me for a long time. It could've very well been avoided."