OSHA cites lack of training after logging worker’s tragic death

VALMEYER, Ill. – Federal investigators found blunt force trauma killed a 46-year-old worker when a tree inadvertently hit him during logging operations on a remote 100-acre Mississippi River levy site in Valmeyer.

One of the nation’s most dangerous occupations, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports 77 recorded deaths in the forestry industry in 2014.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited American Design Builders LLC on March 10, 2016, for one serious and one other-than-serious safety violations, after it completed its investigation into the Sept. 14, 2015, death.

The agency found the Columbia-based company, failed to train workers in CPR or emergency first aid, as required or provide a written training certification record.

“When a job site has limited access to medical facilities, employers must train workers in emergency first aid and make provisions for prompt emergency treatment if it’s needed,” said Aaron Priddy, OSHA’s area director in Fairview Heights. “Loggers deal with massive weights and the momentum of falling, rolling, and sliding trees and logs exposing them to dangerous hazards on a daily basis. Employers need to plan for all scenarios.”

OSHA has proposed penalties of $2,400. View current citations here.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director in Fairview Heights, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

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 Fairview Heights Area Office at (618) 632-8612.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to ensure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.