Laurinburg business fined more than $18K after 19-year-old’s death

Caleb McCusker
·1 min read

LAURINBURG, N.C. (WBTW) — A Laurinburg business has been cited after a 19-year-old died in a workplace incident in August, according to the North Carolina Department of Labor.

Edwards Wood Products Inc. was cited with two “serious” violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of North Carolina, the Labor Department said. The total fine is more than $18,000.

“The penalties are in no way designed to make up for the loss of life,” a spokesperson for the Labor Department said in an email to News13. “By law, the civil money penalties collected by the N.C. Department of Labor are not receipts of the department, but rather must be remitted to the Civil Penalty and Forfeiture Fund, which then distributes the monies to the public school system.”

The company has 15 working days from the receipt of the citations, which were issued Feb. 19, to request an informal conference with the Labor Department to file a notice of contest or to pay the penalty.

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Caleb is a digital producer at News13. Caleb joined the team in January 2023 after graduating from Liberty University. He is from Northern Virginia. Follow Caleb on X, formerly Twitter, and read more of his work here.

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