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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Advertisement Email Story to a Friend April 27, 2006 Company penalized for safety violations Murphy Co. of White City is where a worker lost a leg in an accident in January By PARIS ACHEN Mail Tribune Murphy Co. must pay $8,500 in civil penalties for five safety violations the state identified after investigating a Jan. 5 accident in which a mill worker lost his right leg at the company's veneer plant in White City, officials with the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Tuesday. The penalties appeared minor compared to the severity of the injury to mill worker Steve Steinhardt, who returned to work part time Monday to do paperwork for the company, his wife said Wednesday. The company has a record of safety violations that date to September 2004. "The fine doesn't seem like very much," said Dawn Steinhardt, who has cared for her husband for the past three months. Oregon OSHA officials said the fines follow administrative rules, which place a dollar amount on violations based on whether they could cause injury or death, the probability of an accident and the severity of the injury. Steve Steinhardt, 38, of Medford, lost his right leg just below the knee Jan. 5 when his foot slipped into a box chain drive, which moves log cores after they are peeled along a conveyor belt to either a chipper or a dump truck. He was cleaning off thin strips of wood that had caught in the equipment. Advertisement OSHA cited the company for failing to place or provide a lock of sorts to shut off power on the chain drive, which could have prevented the chain from moving and entangling Steinhardt's leg. The employer also did not provide an authorized employee with a device to secure the machine during service. Investigators found the company failed to provide or require employees to use a safety harness and cable when operating machinery. The harness is designed to keep employees from slipping and becoming entangled in operating equipment, as Steinhardt did. The metal pans above and beneath the chain drive, which are meant to collect wood scraps, waste and splinters that fall off the logs as they are fed into the lathe that peels thin veneers off wood, also had two holes on the top that created a "nip" point where a foot or hand could potentially catch in a chain. The April citations came 19 months after Oregon OSHA fined the wood mill at 7975 11th St. for eight safety violations. Like the January citations, the September 2004 violations largely addressed a lack of guard hardware on machinery but occurred in different parts of the mill. OSHA sent the citations for the January incident April 19 to John R. Murphy Sr., president of Eugene-based Murphy Co. Murphy did not return repeated phone calls seeking comment on the Oregon OSHA findings. Since the accident, Steinhardt, who has three children, has amassed about $80,000 in hospital bills, which will be paid by Workers Compensation, his wife said. Workers Compensation has also paid the family about $2,000 per month for living expenses since the accident. In addition to the January and September 2004 violations at Murphy Veneer in White City, a complaint was made to OSHA in June 2004, alleging that dangerous parts of equipment where workers were at risk of catching their limbs were not guarded at the wood chipper work station, and equipment was being operated improperly. OSHA chose not to investigate the complaint, according to records. Instead, the agency requested a formal response from the company. Workers in the OSHA Medford Field Office determined from Murphy Co.'s response that safety policies were in place to prevent workers from being exposed to hazards mentioned in the complaint, said Kevin Weeks, spokesman for Oregon OSHA. The company also had reviewed its safety policies and procedures with workers during a staff meeting, he said. Reach reporter Paris Achen at 776-4459 or e-mail [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker Custom Build Computers Discount Hotel Reservations online casinos news Ashley Furniture HomeStore Send Flowers Southern Oregon Loans California Casinos GMAT Prep Windermere Van Vleet Sports Equipment Online Casino Reviews Online Bingo Entertainment Guide Online Casino Fundraisers Sudoku Online Casinos Canada Online Pharmacy Advertisements Advertisement