


A 62-year-old Stellantis NV worker from Detroit died while on the job early Monday morning, authorities said.
In a statement, the automaker confirmed an employee at the idled Dundee Engine Plant in Monroe County was involved in a fatal incident — the second workplace fatality at a Stellantis plant in the last year. Stellantis did not disclose the worker’s identity or the details of the incident. The man’s name was not immediately available.
“Our heartfelt condolences go out to the family, friends and coworkers. The company is currently working with local authorities to investigate the incident. Out of respect for the family, we are not confirming the identity of the employee at this time. Counseling services will be available for Dundee Engine Plant employees,” the company’s statement said.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said it responded to the plant on North Ann Arbor Road at about 1:25 a.m. and found the man had been “seriously injured by a machine.” He was taken to an Ann Arbor hospital where he later died, authorities said. The sheriff’s office said the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration is looking into the incident.
Last September, Stellantis announced that the Dundee plant was being retooled with a $73 million investment, so it could make battery trays and other pieces for the automaker’s new vehicle platforms. Other work on the plant was already underway as it prepared to produce a new 1.6-liter, four-cylinder turbocharged engine that will power two of the automaker’s vehicles.
Production at the plant has been paused as retooling continues, and Chris Sharpe, vice president of United Auto Workers Local 723, said there is no current timeline for production restarting. He said both local and international UAW officials were at the plant Monday morning looking into the incident, and he didn’t yet have more details about what occurred. A small number of employees have been in the plant recently as the overhaul occurs and it prepares to restart.
“The UAW is extremely saddened by the loss of a fellow member of our union family at Dundee Engine last night,” the union said in a statement. “An investigation into this incident is now underway. We will share more once we understand what happened, but for now, we ask everyone to keep our member’s family in their hearts and prayers.”
It’s the second workplace fatality in recent months at a Stellantis plant. Last August, Antonio Gaston, 53, was killed on a Toledo Assembly Complex line that makes Jeep Gladiator pickups. He was survived by a wife and four children.
In November, federal workplace safety officials fined the automaker about $16,000 for a “serious” violation related to the fatality due to the plant’s lack of sufficient protections around pinch points on a conveyor that delivers truck chassis.
Employees were “exposed to caught-in/pinch-point hazards created by the carrier conveyor components,” an Occupational Safety and Health Administration report said. The automaker has contested the fine, records show.