Aberdeen lumber mill fined $112,000 for safety violations related to worker’s death

Sierra Pacific Industries, which runs an Aberdeen lumber mill, has been fined $112,000 for seven safety violations following the death of an employee last spring, according to the state Department of Labor and Industries.

Andrew Ward, a 41-year-old Elma man, died in April after falling from an elevated platform to a concrete surface below. Investigators found that a section of yellow guardrail had been removed from the platform, which was more than 17 feet high, and replaced with caution tape to make way for a crane, the department wrote in a release Wednesday.

Ward was attempting to communicate with the crane operator below when he fell, the release says.

Investigators found the mill was aware that caution tape was not an appropriate substitute for guardrails at high elevations, but regularly allowed it, while also failing to ensure employees were wearing adequate safety equipment.

The mill was cited for a willful violation, the release says, and penalized $70,000 — the maximum penalty — for not adequately guarding the platform, and for not ensuring fall protection equipment was worn.

Six more citations were issued for violations that included ineffective safety and health training, running a safety program that wasn’t tailored to company operations, inadequate protective equipment training, allowing untrained crane personnel, and failing to follow precautions required for open flame work. Each was given the maximum penalty of $7,000.

According to the release, because the willful violation led to an employee death, the mill is on the severe violator list, and is subject to future inspections.

This story was originally published October 25, 2017 at 4:48 PM with the headline "Aberdeen lumber mill fined $112,000 for safety violations related to worker’s death."