Large Fine Proposed In Death at Wood Plant
By Tim Fought, Associated Press - June 7, 2006PORTLAND_Oregon officials proposed fines totaling $142,500 for what they termed willful violations of safety rules in the death of a wood plant worker who was running from a clogged chipping machine and was hit in the back of the head by a piece of a log.
The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division said supervisors at the Boise Cascade plant in Umatilla knew that safety rules were being bypassed when the worker died Dec. 16.
So, the agency said, it proposed the maximum $70,000 in civil penalties on two of three counts.
The worker, Gordon Cecil, 52, of Hermiston, and a co-worker were using a log to poke at a clog in the chipping machine, the agency said.
After hearing the clog break up inside the machine, Cecil ran but a piece of wood ejected from the machine hit him, the agency said. He died at the plant.
The agency said in a press release that workers had been instructed to raise the machine's hood guard, which protects them from ejected material, and to use a bypass switch to defeat a manufacturer-installed safety system when clearing wood jams.
The "plant management encouraged the practice of unclogging the chipper while running with the hood guard open as the fastest method of removing a clog without delaying production," the state agency said.
Boise Cascade has filed an appeal of the proposed fines, said spokeswoman Jude Noland.
"We are specifically appealing the designation of the violation as willful," she said. But she said she could not be more specific than that. She said the company has seen only a brief notice of the citation and has asked for a copy of the agency's files.
Agency spokesman Kevin Weeks said the appeal would lead to discussions between the agency and company representatives. In most cases, such discussions result in an agreement between the two sides, Weeks said, but the company has the option of asking for a formal administrative hearing.
The agency said it proposed a $70,000 fine for failure to supervise workers properly and a $70,000 fine for the installation of the bypass switch. In addition, it proposed a $2,500 penalty for what it said was a failure to instruct workers on how to shut down the machine to protect themselves from sudden startups.
In a May report on workplace deaths, the Department of Consumer and Business Services said 31 people died in jobs covered by workers compensation in 2005. It was the lowest number since the state began tracking workplace deaths during World War II.
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