(United States)
Not yet a month on the job, a 21-year-old working at a sawmill operation site in Brashear was learning how to operate a Hurdle saw on 11 January 2023, when he suffered fatal injuries after getting caught and pulled into the vertical edger blades as they spun.
His employer, Don Gibson, owner of Missouri Mats, failed to notify the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that the fatality occurred, which delayed OSHA’s investigation of the incident until 18 January 2023. When investigators arrived at the work site, they issued Gibson a letter that required the company to protect employees from amputation hazards at the sawmill. The letter also directed Gibson to report to OSHA that the mill had corrected the hazard.
When OSHA inspectors returned on 1 March 2023, to continue their investigation, they discovered that Gibson failed to implement necessary controls and procedures for the sawmill and that his employees continued to operate the saw in the same condition which resulted in the death of his employee. The agency placed an imminent danger notice on the saw, which finally prompted Gibson to correct the sawmill’s safety failure.
Inspectors also learned the company knew that sawmill operators let the vertical edger continue to spin while inspecting the machine, which is large enough to cut full logs, but did not correct the procedure or re-train workers on how to use the machine safely.
OSHA cited the company for two willful, 53 serious, and two other than-serious safety and health violations and proposed $346,954 in penalties. OSHA also placed the company in its Severe Violator Enforcement Program.
While at Missouri Mats, the agency’s investigators observed workers younger than 18 years old employed at the sawmill and operating heavy-powered industrial trucks and alerted the department’s Wage and Hour Division. Federal law prohibits minors from working in hazardous occupations.
OSHA Regional Administrator Billie Kizer in Kansas City, Missouri said: “After a young man, new to the job, died after suffering horrific injuries, Don Gibson and the Missouri Mats’ management team continued to use the equipment involved in the fatality without taking appropriate steps to eliminate the danger and protect employees. Deadly hazards exist in the sawmill and logging industries, and it is essential that Gibson and others in the industry follow federal safety requirements.”