OSHA fines Wisconsin sawmill nearly $1.4M after teen’s death

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The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) on Tuesday announced a nearly $1.4 million fine for Florence Hardwoods LLC after a 16-year-old worker was killed at a company sawmill. According to the Labor Department, the company allowed several underage employees to operate dangerous equipment without proper training or safety procedures.

In July, 16-year-old Michael Schuls died shortly after being caught in a stick stacker machine while trying to unjam it in a Florence sawmill, department officials said. He remained trapped until he was found and freed, then transported to a hospital where he died two days later, officials added.

Regulators said this wasn’t an isolated case. Since 2019, five employees across Florence Hardwoods and two related companies suffered serious injuries from safety lapses, including another fatality in 2019.

OSHA fined Florence Hardwoods for several penalties, including eight willful citations, six repeat violations and 29 serious violations for lack of lockout and tagout devices on service equipment. Regulators also put the company in the “Severe Violator Enforcement Program,” according to a Labor Department statement.

“There is no excuse for allowing underage workers to operate this type of machinery,” Julie Su, the acting secretary of labor, said in a statement. “Federal child labor and safety regulations exist to prevent employers from putting children at risk. They also exist to hold employers like Florence Hardwoods accountable for endangering these young workers,” she added.

An investigation found minors employed at Florence Hardwoods were exposed to dangerous hazards, including several teens allowed to use industrial saws and lumber processing machines. The day after Schuls’ death, the mill’s operator terminated all the teens’ jobs.

In September, a federal consent order required Florence Hardwoods to comply with child labor laws and pay more than $190,000 in fines. The company told the court no one under 18 works at the company now.

The company has 15 days to address the citations or file an appeal, Labor Department officials said. The wood finishing and molding lumber producer faced was cited for similar violations in 2020.