Region 5 News Release: 11-1499-CHI
Oct. 25, 2011
Contact: Scott Allen Rhonda Burke
Phone: 312-353-6976 312-353-4807
Email: allen.scott@dol.gov burke.rhonda@dol.gov

US Department of Labor's OSHA cites Campbell Road Sawmill
after worker killed while felling trees at Archbold, Ohio, job site

ARCHBOLD, Ohio – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Campbell Road Sawmill for nine safety and health violations after a 51-year-old worker died when he was struck on the head by a tree while performing logging operations on Aug. 4 in Archbold.

"Campbell Road Sawmill has a responsibility to plan for safe logging operations and protect workers on the job site," said Kim Nelson, OSHA's area director in Toledo. "Employers must know the hazards that exist in their industries and follow the relevant OSHA standards. This sad incident shows what happens when they do not."

Four serious violations relate to the fatality, including failing to provide leg protection and enforcing the use of eye protection, trees being felled in a manner that created a hazard for workers, failing to evaluate hazardous conditions and failing to establish a clear retreat path during logging operations. Three additional violations involved failing to train workers on how to establish and use retreat paths, train workers on how to safely fell trees, and provide CPR and first-aid training. A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

Two other-than-serious violations were cited for failing to report the fatality to OSHA within eight hours and failing to record the incident on the OSHA 300 log. An other-than-serious violation is one that has a direct relationship to job safety and health, but probably would not cause death or serious physical harm.

Proposed fines total $27,500. Spencerville, Ind.-based Campbell Road Sawmill has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint, or report 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 Toledo Area Office at 419-259-6355.

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.

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U.S. Department of Labor news materials are accessible at http://www.dol.gov. The information above is available in large print, Braille, audio tape or disc from the COAST office upon request by calling 202-693-7828 or TTY 202-693-7755.