Worker dies trapped in a silo gate at a Wisconsin asphalt plant, and OSHA opens an investigation

The Riverside Fire Department, police and medics were sent to the plant at 1116 Happy Hollow Road at about 10:19 a.m. for a report of an unresponsive employee stuck in a silo gate, the Kronenwetter Police Department said. Responders treated him on site, and he was declared dead at Aspirus Wausau Hospital. Police have not released his name and said nothing so far points to a crime.

American Asphalt of Wisconsin, based in Mosinee, runs hot-mix plants, does road paving and sells aggregate in the central and northern parts of the state. Mathy Construction, a family company based in Onalaska, started it in 1974 as a division, Wausau Pilot & Review reported.

Police alerted OSHA right away, and the agency's Appleton office is handling the case. Employers have eight hours to notify OSHA when a worker dies. The agency gets as long as six months to decide on citations, which means a ruling may not arrive until early May, and it usually releases nothing while a fatality case is open. Neither police nor OSHA has said what caused the worker to be caught or whether the gate was locked out.

OSHA's lockout/tagout standard for general industry, 29 CFR 1910.147, requires employers to keep written procedures and train workers to shut down and isolate machinery for servicing and maintenance, so it cannot start up or release stored energy. Wisconsin recorded 109 workplace deaths in 2024, down from 112 in 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.