On an early morning in April, a 39-year-old worker stepped down from his forklift to begin cleaning up debris amid rows of rough-cut lumber stacked high in the yard.
He was working for a sawmill in Oregon. A staffing company sent him there.
His life was cut short that morning: Two units of the towering lumber toppled, fatally burying and crushing him.
The company allowed the units of lumber to be stacked in an unstable manner, according to an investigation by Oregon OSHA. Under the Safe Employment Act, employers must provide safe and healthy working conditions. Workers have a right to such conditions. Oregon OSHA cited the company for two alleged serious violations totaling initial penalties of $43,401:
- failure to immediately secure unstable piles of lumber or to prohibit workers from entering the hazardous area by fencing or barricading it;
- and, in stacking units of lumber, failure to design and arrange pile foundations to support maximum loads to avoid sinking, sagging, or toppling.
The design-related violation was classified as having caused or contributed to the death of the worker. This type of violation is issued by Oregon OSHA when a fatality investigation determines that a violation of a workplace safety or health requirement was a factor in causing or contributing to the death of an employee. Penalties for such violations are generally higher than other violation types.
The sawmill corrected the violations, as required by Oregon OSHA. It filed an appeal of the citation.
The April morning incident was preventable. The devastating lesson it offers employers is not confined to the sawmill industry. In fact, stacking and storage hazards are more commonplace than one might think. They show up in warehouses and distribution centers, construction sites, manufacturing settings, agricultural operations, and retail storage facilities. The hazards include falling objects from unstable stacks, collapsing stacks, struck-by or caught-in incidents, trips and falls caused by obstructed aisles, and more.
One recent example in retail involved an employer that willfully exposed employees to potential serious injury from unsecured merchandise. Boxes stacked more than 7 feet high posed the danger of merchandise collapsing or falling on employees. And the unsecured nature of the merchandise created potential tripping hazards.
At one point, an employee, positioned between two aisles of merchandise, tried to correct the hazard the employer had not properly addressed, according to Oregon OSHA’s inspection, which was a follow-up enforcement visit. The merchandise collapsed and trapped the employee around the waist. The employee was able to get free with the help of a co-worker.
Workers have the right to speak up for their safety and health when something feels off or dangerous. They have the right to do so free of retaliation and to have their employers address their concerns.
Among an employer’s responsibilities is to know and follow the safety and health requirements that apply to their particular industry. Prevention is paramount. Employers that are unsure how to proceed may contact Oregon OSHA’s free consultants or technical specialists for help – no fault, no citations, no penalties.
The following is a summary of the stacking and storage requirements Oregon OSHA cited for violations in the cases noted in this story:
Sawmills
29 CFR 1910.265(c)(27)(iii): Unstable piles of lumber were not immediately made safe, or the area into which they might fall was not fenced or barricaded, to prohibit employees from entering. Before the fatal injury, the employer failed to ensure that, when stacks of lumber were identified as unstable throughout the storage area, those unstable stacks were immediately secured or the area where they could fall was fenced or barricaded to prevent exposure to a struck-by hazard.
29 CFR 1910.265(c)(27)(i): In stacking units of lumber, pile foundations were not designed and arranged to support maximum loads without sinking, sagging, or permitting the piles to topple. Before the fatal injury, the employer failed to ensure that, in the upper kiln lumber storage area, all units of stacked lumber rested on sound foundations designed to prevent those units from sinking, sagging, or toppling. The dunnage, or bolster, materials had either not been arranged close enough to the outer edges of the lumber units above them or were damaged.
Retailer
29 CFR 1910.176(b): Material stored in tiers was not stacked, blocked, interlocked, or limited in height so that it was stable and secure against sliding and collapse. During a follow-up inspection, and at times before the follow-up inspection, the employer did not ensure that boxes of merchandise in the stockroom were securely stacked, blocked or interlocked, to prevent them from falling onto or in the path of employees. As a result, employees were exposed to potential struck-by, and trip and fall hazards.