Construction worker in critical condition after fall at Kumho Tire plant

An investigation is ongoing after a construction worker suffered serious injuries at the site of the Bibb County Kumho Tire facility on Thursday.

Kumho Tire spent Thursday afternoon working with The Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration as the agency examines what led to Luis Ramirez falling from a walkway just before 10 a.m. The 19-year-old from West Point remained listed in critical condition Thursday afternoon at Medical Center, Navicent Health, said Linda Howard, spokeswoman for the Bibb County Sheriff's Office.

"(Ramirez) was inside the building on one of the walkways, and that walkway was attached to the ceiling," she said. "(Other workers) said he lost his footing, and that's how he fell."

Ramirez works for a construction company, not Kumho.

The worker's safety harness was not attached at the time of the accident at the south Bibb County plant, said Jim Frentheway, Kumho's human resources director for Georgia.

OSHA, which responds to serious workplace accidents, arrived at Kumho within a few hours of the accident.

"Eventually a report will be completed, and if there is some sort of safety violation, then a citation will be issued," said Lindsay Williams, spokesman for the Georgia Department of Labor.

The Macon plant, currently under construction in Sofkee Industrial Park, is expected to produce 4 million tires a year for Chrysler, Kia and Hyundai. Macon is the Korean-based company's first North American manufacturing plant. The $424 million facility will feature an automated system that builds a tire every 36 seconds.

The plant is expected to open in early 2016.

Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report. To contact writer Stanley Dunlap, call 744-4623 or find him on Twitter@stan_telegraph.

This story was originally published November 19, 2015 at 5:38 PM with the headline "Construction worker in critical condition after fall at Kumho Tire plant ."