Worker Killed at GM Stamping Plant

A coworker backed a forklift into a floor-to-ceiling wall unit that wasn't secured.

A worker at General Motors' Marion Metal Center stamping plant in Indiana died Dec. 30 in an industrial accident.

GM Site Director Robert Ogden told local authorities that employees were moving a floor-to-ceiling wall unit of 4x4 metal tubing that was welded together. The unit had not yet been secured to the floor or a connecting wall. 

At around 7 a.m., Mark McKnight was working on an electrical conduit near the wall when a coworker backed a forklift into the metal wall and caused it to tip over, striking McKnight. 

McKnight, 57, was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy is pending, although local authorities found the death to be accidental.

According to GM, about 790 people work at the facility about 70 miles northeast of Indianapolis. 

The Marion Metal Center has been in operation since 1956 and provides stamped metal parts, blanks and sheet metal assembly to GM’s North American assembly plants.

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