A fire ignited inside a silo (a confined space) at this firm’s sawmill, and the water used to extinguish it had frozen the wood fiber inside the silo. While a subcontractor’s worker was pressure washing the fiber inside the silo, a large volume of fiber dislodged from an overhang above the work area. The fiber blocked access to the silo hatch and engulfed the worker, who sustained fatal injuries.
The firm failed:
- to ensure that it assigned overall responsibility for administering the confined space entry program and supervising confined space entries to an adequately trained person.
- to ensure that a hazard assessment and written confined space entry procedures were prepared by a qualified person, and that written procedures specified the means to eliminate all hazards.
- to ensure that before a worker entered a confined space, pre-entry testing and inspection were conducted to verify that it was safe for entry.
In addition, the firm failed to:
- ensure that every person assigned rescue duties was properly equipped and adequately trained, that a lifeline was attached to the worker’s safety harness and tended to at all times by a standby person, and that if a worker enters a confined space that containsa risk of engulfment or entrapment, the standby person is equipped and capable of immediately effecting rescue using suitable lifting equipment.
- to ensure confined space rescue practice drills were conducted at least annually and to maintain records of training and drills.
- Further, as prime contractor of a multiple-employer workplace, the firm failed to establish and maintain a system of regulatory compliance and to provide its workers with the information, instruction, training, and supervision necessary to ensure their health and safety and that of other workers at the workplace. These were all high-risk violations.
Sector: Manufacturing
Classification unit: Veneer or Plywood Manufacture
Updated to: May 12, 2026