Industry Summary
Suffering major job losses, employees within the Paper (except Newsprint) Mills industry have got to be on edge. With 2015 employment numbers coming in at 59,642, The industry has seen a decline of -4.57%. This change put 2,856 folks onto the unemployment line. With OSHA reported accident rates of less than that of the the Paper Mills Industry as a whole, things have been relatively safe over the past five years.
On Tuesday, December 12th 2017 OSHA reps took a report of a serious accident in Bennettsville, SC after learning of an incident at 72194 - Domtar Paper Company Llc which had occured on Monday, December 11th 2017. A 44 year old man working as a employee was killed on the job when the employee suffered cardiac arrest after fire fighting training
Accident Date2017-12-11
Accident DegreeFatality
NarrativeOn December 11, 2017, an employee arrived at the South Carolina Fire Academy (SCFA) to participate as a student in an industrial firefighting course. The employee was tasked with completing an obstacle course known as the maze, which was constructed so that the students had to crawl on their hands and knees while wearing a Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) and other firefighting bunker gear. The employee completed the training course and was assisting other students removing their SCBA when it was noted that the employee appeared to be fatigued. The SCFA site safety personnel responded and responded to their questions before becoming unresponsive. Safety personnel administered CPR and applied an Automatic External Defibrillator while waiting for Emergency Services response. The student was transported to the local hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Cause of death was determined to be due to hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
The accident investigation below was opened on Tuesday, December 12th 2017 by OSHA representitives in Bennettsville, SC after learning of an incident at 72194 - Domtar Paper Company Llc which had occured on Monday, December 11th 2017. A 44 year old man working as a employee was killed on the job when the employee suffered cardiac arrest after fire fighting training
Accident Date2017-12-11
Accident DegreeFatality
NarrativeOn December 11, 2017, an employee arrived at the South Carolina Fire Academy (SCFA) to participate as a student in an industrial firefighting course. The employee was tasked with completing an obstacle course known as the maze, which was constructed so that the students had to crawl on their hands and knees while wearing a Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) and other firefighting bunker gear. The employee completed the training course and was assisting other students removing their SCBA when it was noted that the employee appeared to be fatigued. The SCFA site safety personnel responded and responded to their questions before becoming unresponsive. Safety personnel administered CPR and applied an Automatic External Defibrillator while waiting for Emergency Services response. The student was transported to the local hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Cause of death was determined to be due to hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
On Thursday, November 9th 2017 OSHA reps took a report of a serious accident in Wisconsin Rapids, WI after learning of an incident at Catalyst Paper Operations Inc. which had occured on Sunday, November 5th 2017. A 60 year old Machine operator had been injured when the
Accident Date2017-11-05
Accident DegreeHospitalized injury
NarrativeAt 8:00 a.m. on November 5, 2017, an employee was rethreading the winder and was removing some scrap with his right hand. The employee had his left hand and arm pulled into a nip point between the paper roll and the winder rolls. The employee had his arm degloved and suffered several fractures with tendon and artery damage. The employee was hospitalized.