OSHA finds workers exposed to more than two dozen serious violations at West Virginia saw mill, including amputation, electrical hazards

Employers name:  Kenneth Snider Inc., Hilltop Drive, Princeton, West Virginia

Citations issued: On March 15, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued citations for one willful, 24 serious and two other-than-serious violations.

Investigation findings: OSHA opened an investigation on Oct. 21, 2015 in response to a complaint alleging a long list of workplace safety and health hazards at the saw mill. The investigation was also conducted under the agency’s national emphasis program for amputations.

While onsite, OSHA inspectors observed employees working within inches of an unguarded saw and cited Kenneth Snider Inc. with a willful violation. The company was also cited for not having a hearing conservation program for employees exposed to noise above the permissible limit over an eight-hour period and failure to provide hearing protection.  Other cited hazards include:

• No personal protective equipment worn during the operation of a chainsaw.
• No collection system for the removal of combustible saw dust from the work area.
• Electrical hazards.
• The lack of a hazard communication program.
• The lack of an energy control program for employees to use when servicing equipment.

Proposed penalties: $59,000                               

Quote: “It only takes a second for a worker to make contact with a machine that isn’t properly guarded and suffer a serious injury that could have been prevented,” said Prentice Cline, director of OSHA’s Charleston Area Office. “When an employer like Kenneth Snider Inc. allows more than 50 workplace safety violations to exist, it is clear the company is disregarding its obligation to provide workers with a safe and healthy work environment. They will be held accountable for their lack of compliance.”

View the citations:    

• http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/KennethSniderInc_1100641.pdf
• http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/KennethSniderInc_1106994.pdf  

To ask questions; obtain compliance assistance; file a complaint; or report amputations, eye loss, workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA’s toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency’s Charleston Area Office at 304-347-5937.