20-year-old worker was crushed to death at sawmill, feds say. Now company will pay
A national lumber company is facing over $180,000 in fines after ignoring safety requirements that caused the death of a worker, federal officials said.
Rex Lumber, LLC, is an operator of sawmills in Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, Mississippi and Virginia, according to a July 5 news release from the Department of Labor.
In December, a 20-year-old worker at the Troy, Alabama, sawmill was fatally crushed when they, along with five other workers, tried to clear a jammed roller, the release said.
The worker was trying to fix the jam when the “stored energy” made the infeed unit close, crushing and killing them, the agency said.
“OSHA issued a willful citation for allowing workers to perform maintenance on equipment without controlling hazardous energy sources,” the release said. “The company also failed to review its energy control procedures regularly to ensure compliance and did not train employees on how to isolate stored energy in hydraulic accumulators.”
After investigating the death in Alabama, OSHA cited the company with $184,385 in proposed penalties, the release said.
“Rex Lumber’s Troy plant was devastated to lose a coworker in a December 2022 machine accident,” the company said in a statement July 6. “Rex is not a faceless global company. We’re made up of local people, and OSHA’s characterization of the facts and alleged violations does not match the events or our efforts.”
The worker’s death is the company’s third serious or fatal onsite injury in three years, the department said.
A worker trying to fix a faulty hydraulic valve at the Rex Lumber Graceville, Florida, location was crushed in March 2021 after getting caught in the machine’s wheels and pulleys, according to the release.
Four months prior, a worker had their hand ripped off and later died after their hand got caught in a conveyor roller at Rex Lumber’s Bristol, Florida, location, the release said.
The Department of Labor has cited Rex Lumber and its subsidiaries for 19 serious safety violations since 2013, the agency said.
Rex Lumber Troy, however, disputes these violations and said they were from a “completely unrelated company” operating in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Virginia.
“Similar name, but NOT us, and their additional violations should not be publicly attributed to us,” the company said. “We respect OSHA’s need to police the industry, but we vigorously disagree with the findings.”
The company has 15 days to either pay the fines, request a conference with OSHA or contest the findings of the report with the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, according to the release.
“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,” OSHA Alabama area director Jose Gonzalez said in the release. “Safety standards exist to protect workers from the hazards of moving machinery and when followed, they can save lives.”
The recent worker death occurred at the Troy, Alabama sawmill, about 45 miles southeast of Montgomery.
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