Alabama Sawmill Facing $2.5 Million OSHA Fine for Fatality

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster):  MDLG Inc., a Phenix City, Alabama, sawmill, faces $2,471,683 in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fines following a worker’s death, the agency announced February 22.

A 67-year-old sawmill supervisor at MDLG, operating as Phenix Lumber Co., had climbed on top of an auger to access a difficult-to-reach area to unclog a woodchipper. The employee was caught in the machinery and fatally injured after the machine started while the employee was on top of the auger.

As a result of the fatal incident, OSHA cited Phenix Lumber Co. and its owners, John Menza Dudley Jr. and Leslie Elizabeth Dudley, with 22 willful violations, one repeat violation, and five serious violations.

Agency investigators found the employer failed to:

Ensure employees used energy control procedures to prevent the unexpected start-up of machines while performing maintenance and servicing activities, such as clearing jams. 

Ensure the use of lockout/tagout devices on machinery when performing maintenance.

Provide training to employees on the purpose and function of an energy control (lockout/tagout) program, as well as ensure they have the knowledge and skills required for the safe application of energy control measures. 

Maintain guarding on machines that posed amputation hazards to employees. 

Require fall protection to be used in work areas above 4 feet. 

Require employees operating a forklift to wear a seatbelt. 

Maintain fire extinguishers in a fully charged and operable condition. 

Ensure an electrical disconnect was located in the direct line of sight of the equipment being locked out.

OSHA’s powered industrial trucks, lockout/tagout, and machine guarding standards are among the agency’s most frequently cited standards. Last fall, OSHA announced the powered industrial trucks standard (29 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) §1910.178) was its fifth most-cited standard, cited 2,561 times in fiscal year (FY) 2023. The lockout/tagout standard (§1910.147) was the sixth most cited, cited 2,554 times, and the machine guarding standard (§1910.212) was the tenth most cited, cited 1,644 times in FY 2023.

According to OSHA, it inspected Phenix Lumber Co. four times in the past five years, including citing the company with four willful and 10 serious violations after the investigation of another fatality in 2020. As a result, the agency added the employer to its Severe Violators Enforcement Program (SVEP), a program for employers that endanger workers by committing willful, repeat, or failure-to-abate violations that could lead to fatalities or catastrophic injuries.

“Phenix Lumber’s willful disregard for the well-being of their employees leaves another family to grieve the loss of their loved one. This must stop,” Kurt Petermeyer, OSHA’s Region 4 administrator, said in an agency statement. “This worksite has become all too familiar to OSHA. Phenix and its owners have a legal responsibility to follow federal safety laws that are meant to prevent the exact hazards that cost this employee’s life.”

 Courtesy: www.ehsdailyadvisor.blr.com