Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1714263.015 - Konz Wood Products, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Appleton Area Office

Investigation Summary

At 3:45 a.m. on December 5, 2023, three employees were operating a resaw stacker. Coworker #1 was operating the infeed side, while Coworker #2 trained Employee #1 on operating the stacker side. The resaw stacker takes pre-cut boards and rips them down to smaller sizes and then restacks them onto pallets. Coworker #1 stated that s/he was stopping the infeed and would just run through the remaining material on the resaw. Coworker #2 communicated with Employee #1 that s/he was going to go outside of the building to get a forklift, so that s/he could remove the palletized material from rollers that extended through an outside door on the backside of the stacker. When Coworker #2 pulled up to the door, s/he heard a crash. Coworker #2 exited the lift and looked through the doorway to see if Employee #1 was alright. Coworker #2 did not see Employee #1 and went back into the building, where s/he found Employee #1 unresponsive on the empty pallet side of the stacker. Employee #1 had attempted to free a jammed board that had been wedged between the stacker frame and the stacker carriage. When the board was freed, the stacker carriage fell and struck Employee #1 in the back of the head, resulting in crushing injuries to the skull and neck. Employee #1 was killed.

Keywords: Board, Crushed, Crushing, Falling Object, Forklift, Head, Jammed, Neck, Pallet, Roller--Mach/Part, Struck By, Unresponsive