Rex Lumber LLC faces $184,385 in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fines after a 20-year-old worker trying to clear a jammed roller in its Troy, Alabama, sawmill was crushed and killed after stored energy caused the infeed unit to close on him, the agency announced July 5.
OSHA issued a willful citation for allowing workers to perform maintenance on equipment without controlling hazardous energy sources. The company also failed to review its energy control procedures regularly to ensure compliance and didn’t train employees on how to isolate stored energy in hydraulic accumulators.
OSHA cited the employer in 2020 and 2021 for improper machine operations at two Rex Lumber sawmills in Florida. In December 2020, a worker suffered an amputation injury and died in a hospital days later after the worker’s hand came in contact with the nip point of a conveyor’s roller at the Bristol location. At the Graceville location in March 2021, an employee trying to fix a machine’s faulty hydraulic valve suffered crushing injuries after getting caught in the machine’s wheels and pulleys.
“Rex Lumber’s failure to comply with well-known safety requirements led to the death of a worker and put others at serious risk of harm,” Jose Gonzalez, OSHA’s Mobile, Alabama, area office director, said in an agency statement. “Safety standards exist to protect workers from the hazards of moving machinery and when followed, they can save lives.”
OSHA’s control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout) standard (29 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) §1910.147) is one of the agency’s top 10 most frequently cited standards, cited 1,977 times in fiscal year (FY) 2022.
Road builder cited in crane accident
At the site of a bridge expansion project along the southbound lanes of Interstate 95 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, one worker died and another needed a month’s hospitalization for a serious leg fracture after falling 35 feet when a suspended concrete pile struck the aerial lift they were working in.
OSHA announced July 3 that the de Moya Group, a highway and bridge construction company specializing in infrastructure projects in Florida, now faces $58,942 in OSHA penalties.
Agency inspectors learned that a 90-foot-long, 18-inch-by-18-inch concrete pile weighing 35,000 pounds broke free of its restraints when the supporting crane shifted in unstable soil and struck the lift’s boom, causing the two carpenters to fall onto the roadway below. A 46-year-old worker suffered fatal injuries, while his 52-year-old coworker sustained serious leg injuries.
OSHA issued the employer citations for four serious violations for exposing employees to struck-by hazards because the employer:
- Failed to ensure the ground was firm and that the crane had adequate support;
- Used a crane with a modified swing control, exposing employees to the hazard of being struck by the crane or load; and
- Didn’t complete required monthly crane inspections.
“This tragedy never should have happened. A worker lost his life and a co-worker suffered life-altering injuries because The de Moya Group failed to follow industry-recognized and federally required safety measures,” Condell Eastmond, OSHA’s Fort Lauderdale, Florida, area office director, said in an agency statement.