Inspection Detail

Inspection: 107038416 - Diamond Lands Corporation

Inspection Information - Office: Region 09; San Francisco

Investigation Summary

On July 18, 1988, Employee #1 started work at Diamond Lands Corporation sawmill, Red Bluff, CA. He had been unemployed for several years and this was his first day at work. He started pulling lumber from the planer chain at 4:00 p.m. and collapsed after 1 hour 25 minutes of strenuous labor. Several coworkers performed CPR on Employee #1, without success. An ambulance arrived at approximately 5:40 p.m. and he was pronounced dead. Diamond Lands Corporation schedules 10 minute breaks every two hours and Employee #1 was 35 minutes away from his first break. It was approximately 115 degrees Fahrenheit at the time and it may have been up to 5 degrees warmer in the sawmill. He had had a pre-appointment physical, which did not detect a heart condition. The county coroner stated that it is very difficult to detect heart conditions during a physical, even with a stress EKG. Employee #1 had worked at other sawmills doing the same job, and had been employed at Louisiana Pacific's sawmill for approximately ten years.

Keywords: HEART, CPR, HEART ATTACK, SAWMILL, HIGH TEMPERATURE