:The Laurel Outlook:Big Story

A Laurel woman working at Fox Lumber Sales sustained severe injury to her scalp last month when her hair was caught in a rotating shaft.

The accident happened at approximately 1 pm., Sept. 7, at the lumber processing business located on Shannon Road. The matter is under investigation by the Billings office of the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Fox Lumber Sales is based in Hamilton.

The OSHA investigation should be completed in the next week and a half, according to Ross Yeager, OSHA area office director in Billings. “Once that investigation is complete, we will make a determination if the accident was a result of violation of OSHA safety standards,” he said.

According to Fox Lumber Sales safety officials, Brandy Banks, 23, was operating a finger-jointing machine at the time of the accident. Banks had just finished clearing some wood material from the machinery that had jammed. When she turned on a switch to start the machinery again, some strands of her hair caught on a protruding hex screw on a collar attached to a shaft. When the machinery started, it wrapped her hair around the shaft, pulling her hair and scalp from her head.

Her hair slipped through a small opening in a protective shield covering a sprocket connected to the shaft. The sprocket was covered to prevent a person's hand from coming in contact with it. Banks' hair was tied back in a ponytail at the time of the accident, according to Fox Lumber Safety Coordinator Joe Anthony.

She was treated immediately by first aid personnel at the plant to cover her wounds and control bleeding from her injury.

If OSHA determines that a violation occurred, Fox Lumber will have 15 days to resolve the matter informally with them, or have it reviewed by an administrative law judge. Yeager said the accident report will not be available to the public until there is resolution to the matter between Fox Lumber and OSHA.

The woman was reportedly taken to a Billings hospital and transferred to a Salt Lake City, UT, medical facility. She has been released from the Salt Lake City hospital, but is continuing to receive out-patient care, according to Fox Lumber Human Resources and Safety Coordinator Tim Schroeder. He said he thinks she will return to Laurel in a couple of months.

A benefit account to assist Banks with her medical expenses has been established at Western Security Bank. Donations can be made at the bank in her name.

Fox Lumber cuts marginal quality lumber materials (2X8, 2X10 and 2X12) into 2X4 and 2X6 studs and wooden components for pallets and crating materials. The ripped down materials get sorted and graded for various uses. The 2X4s used for studs are jointed with finger-joints to give them additional strength and to prevent twisting.

Fox ships seven-10 railcars and 100-150 truckloads of finished products from the plant monthly. The plant processes on average of 200,000 board feet of lumber a day, according to Schroeder.

Schroeder said he has brought a retired OSHA safety inspector to the plant to help spot potential safety hazards. The plant also has regular workers compensation inspections with an eye towards improving plant safety.

He has implemented a safety committee of 10 employees that meets regularly to discuss plant safety and how it can be improved.

The company offers a 50 cent per hour safety incentive to employees over and above their regular salary. “We pay our employees extra to practice good safety habits,” Schroeder said. “We don't want to see anybody get hurt here.”

Schroeder characterized Banks as a “quality employee.” She started work at the plant as a line stacker and was training to be a machine operator at the time of the accident.

Attorneys for Fox Lumber and OSHA have been exchanging information and are still negotiating to resolve the list of 25 alleged safety violations the company was charged with last May after an OSHA safety inspection during the fall of 2005. Fox Lumber contested all of the violations.

That investigation resulted in 11 serious citations with proposed penalties of $33,200 and 12 repeat citations totaling $86,800 in proposed penalties.

Fox Lumber has a local work force of about 65-80 employees, according to Schroeder.

The alleged serious violations addressed hazards associated with lack of emergency lighting, inadequate machine guarding, inadequate training on operating woodworking machinery, inadequate use of personal protective equipment, use of unsafe forklifts, and unguarded belts and pulleys.

The alleged repeat violations addressed a failure to implement feasible administrative or engineering controls to reduce noise levels, inadequate training on lock-out/tag-out procedures to render machinery inoperable during maintenance and repair, inadequate machine guarding, unsafe electrical hazards, inadequate forklift training, and blocked and unmarked exits.

OSHA defines “repeat violations” as those for which an employer has been previously cited for the same or a substantially similar condition and the citation has become a final order of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

If attorneys for the parties are unable to reach a settlement agreement, the matter will be reviewed by an administrative law judge who will determine a ruling.