A sawmill based in Phenix City, Alabama has been fined approximately $2.5 million by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) following a fatal incident at its facility in August. This represents the second employee fatality at the company within a span of three years.
According to a news release from the Department of Labor (DOL), OSHA discovered that Phenix Lumber Co. and its parent company, MDLG Inc., failed to safeguard a 67-year-old sawmill supervisor who climbed atop an auger to unclog a woodchipper situated in a hard-to-reach area. The investigation found that the machine was activated while the employee was still on the auger, leading to his entrapment in the machine and subsequent death.
"Phenix Lumber’s willful disregard for the well-being of their employees leaves another family to grieve the loss of their loved one. This must stop," said OSHA Regional Administrator Kurt Petermeyer. "This worksite has become all too familiar to OSHA. Phenix and its owners have a legal responsibility to follow federal safety laws that are meant to prevent the exact hazards that cost this employee’s life."
Following these findings, OSHA cited Phenix Lumber Co., along with its proprietors John Menza Dudley Jr. and Leslie Elizabeth Dudley, with fines totaling $2,471,683 after identifying 22 willful violations, one repeat violation, and five serious violations. In 2020, Phenix Lumber Co. faced citations for four willful and 10 serious violations after another fatality inspection took place. The sawmill has undergone inspection four times over the past five years and was included in OSHA's Severe Violators Enforcement Program in 2020—a program designed for employers known for endangering employees in environments that could result in life-threatening injuries.
The DOL news release also stated that Phenix Lumber Co. now has a 15-day window to comply with the ruling, or alternatively, to contest the ruling before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission—an independent federal agency separate from both the Department of Labor and OSHA.
