An Alabama lumber mill and its owner have been hit with $1,939,000 in proposed penalties by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for hazards that the agency said demonstrated “egregious disregard” for worker safety.
OSHA’s cited Phenix Lumber Co. of Phenix City, Ala., and its owner, John M. Dudley, for 27 willful safety violations — the agency’s most serious charges — following complaints that workers were in danger of losing hands or fingers from machinery that lacked safety guards. The agency said it was aware of one worker who lost part of a finger and a second employee who also suffered a severe hand jury.
The company and OSHA have clashed for years. Before the latest charges, the agency since 2007 already had cited Phenix Lumber 77 times for serious safety and health violations — many of them lodged last year after a worker was killed and another suffered a broken neck at the mill.
In the latest case, OSHA began its investigation in December after receiving a complaint that workers were maintaining, cleaning and clearing jams on machinery that did not have its power source cut off to prevent the equipment from being started accidentally. In the following months, as the investigation continued, OSHA officials learned of the two serious injuries related to machinery lacking safety guards.
OSHA’s citations included failure to properly shut and lock 13 pieces of machinery before workers performed maintenance. Employees were at risk not only of amputations, OSHA said, but also of getting struck by pieces of machinery or falling lumber. The agency said workers also were exposed to the risk of falling from equipment.
“This situation reflects a systemic problem with the way this company approaches safety and demonstrates an egregious disregard for workers’ safety and health,” said David Michaels, OSHA’s chief.
According to OSHA, a willful violation is one committed with “intentional knowing or voluntary disregard for the law’s requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health.”
Phenix Lumber provided no response to the charges. “We’re looking at the citations, and we’ll be ready to make a comment tomorrow,” said a man who answered the phone at Phenix Lumber but who hung up when asked for his name.
The company has 15 business days to accept or appeal the fines, or to request an audience with OSHA.
