The Peoria County Coroner listed the cause of death as "thermal annihilation." It took investigators several hours to sort through metal fragments to find what remained of Steven Dierkes. He was 39 years old and had been on the job for nine days.

What Happened Inside the Foundry

Dierkes was working as a melting specialist at Caterpillar's Mapleton foundry in Illinois, a facility that processes 1,000 tons of iron every single day. His job required him to take samples from ceramic crucibles filled with molten iron heated to 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit. On June 2, 2022, while taking one of those samples, he tripped and fell into the vat. He was immediately incinerated.

He is survived by his life partner, Jessica Sutter, and their three daughters. People who knew him described him as "a hard-working teddy bear of a man with calloused hands and a tender heart" who "would have done anything for anyone with no expectation of anything in return."

What OSHA Found

Federal investigators determined that the foundry had a pattern of exposing workers to unprotected fall hazards while they worked within four feet of those deep, superheated containers. The hazard was not a freak condition. It was routine.

Dierkes' death was also not the first at that location. Months earlier, in December 2021, a worker named Scott Adams, 50, died after falling through a hole in the floor. Two fatal falls at the same facility within a single year.

The Fine and What Followed

OSHA issued one willful violation citation and proposed a fine of $145,027. For context, Caterpillar reported $50 billion in revenue in 2021. The fine amounts to less than .003 percent of that figure.

Caterpillar is appealing the willful violation finding. As of the time of reporting, no criminal investigation has been opened into the death of Steven Dierkes.

A number of current and former workers at the Mapleton facility have since spoken publicly about the dangerous conditions they say they face regularly on the job.