For the fifth time in the past three years, OSHA inspectors found workers at Wood Fibers Inc. at risk of amputation, fire and other life-threatening hazards in October 2014. Despite the agency’s intervention, the company has failed to provide proof that hazards had been fixed or that penalties from previous inspections have been paid.
Acting on an employee complaint, OSHA inspectors went to the company's wood pellet manufacturing facility. They found that employees operated machines without effective safeguards from moving parts amid large amounts of combustible wood dust accumulated throughout the facility. These unsafe working conditions prompted OSHA to issue four repeated and eight serious safety violations. Proposed penalties total $71,610.