Failure to Act on Past Incidents Leads to Sawmill Fatality

In Phenix City, Alabama, a 67-year-old sawmill supervisor at MDLG Inc. (Phenix Lumber Co.) was fatally injured after climbing on top of an auger to clear a woodchipper jam. The machine activated while he was on it, pulling him into the equipment. OSHA found the employer failed to implement required lockout/tagout procedures and had not trained staff properly. This incident followed a prior fatality at the same facility just three years earlier. OSHA had already issued citations for serious safety violations, yet the company failed to act on those findings. The 2023 […]