Schmidbauer Lumber Inc: OSHA inspections and violations

Incident on May 23, 2001: Mechanic injured while repairing a caterpillar bobcat

On May 23, 2001, a sawmill mechanic was making repairs to the tilt cylinder on a Caterpillar 216 Skid Steer Bobcat. The mechanic raised the bucket of the Bobcat and placed a support under it to prevent it from falling while he was working o n the bucket cylinder. The employee loosened the connections on the hydraulic cy linder, allowing the hydraulic fluid to leak out of the cylinder. The employee w as lying on the shop floor under the Bobcat to complete the repair, when he acci dentally kicked the support loose, and the bucket frame moved downward onto the employee's head. The employee was pinned to the floor by the bucket frame. He wa s hospitalized with injuries to his skull.

Incident on Aug 5, 1999: Employee injured when pinned by machinery

Employee #1 was setting stickers between the layers of lumber on a unit of fir w ood. Employee #1 placed these stickers between each layer of the unit as it was being stacked. When the unit was complete it would be lowered onto a roll-case a nd moved away from the stacker area. Employee #1 went behind the unit as it was being lowered. The roll-case had been left running in reverse, and Employee #1 a nd the stacker operator had forgotten that the rolls were running. The unit of l umber moved and crushed Employee #1 against a metal cross brace on the backside of the unit. Employee #1 received crushing injuries including a punctured lung a nd broken ribs. Employee #1 was hospitalized.

Incident on Aug 16, 1997: Employee's fingertip amputated in alligator chain

Employee #1, a green chain puller at a sawmill, was substituting for the alligat or chain operator, a job he had done five or six times in the past. There was a lull in the boards coming down the chain, and he reached in with his right hand to flip a board that was upstream of his work station. His left hand was resting on the nearest moving strand of the camel back chain. He felt something grab hi s hand and he pulled it away. His little finger had become caught in a pinch or shear point and amputated below the first joint. Employee #1 later stated that h e was looking at the position of his right hand, and did not know what part of t he mechanism amputated his finger. The in-running pinch point of the sprocket wa s guarded, and the camel back links open up on the tip of the chain where he sai d his hand was located. The exact mechanism that caused the injury was not deter mined.