Wisconsin paper mill worker killed while servicing operating conveyer belt
No lockout-tagout used
A machine operator who suffered fatal injuries as he serviced a high-speed conveyor belt in a Ladysmith paper mill in October 2015 might still be alive if his employer had ensured that equipment was powered down and locked out before the 46-year-old man entered the hazardous area.
That was the conclusion of an OSHA investigation into the Oct. 27, 2015 incident at Clearwater Paper-Ladysmith mill. The agency found that employees at the mill routinely work beneath high-speed conveyor and sheet-fork sections of the wet-lap machine during production mode, which exposes them to the risk of an operating machine pulling them in or a machine part striking them, causing severe or even fatal injuries.