SPENCER VENEER FINED OVER SCALPING INCIDENT - Company Will Not Appeal $7,000 Fine

(05/02/2003)

Spencer Veneer has been cited by OSHA following an incident in which an employee's scalp was torn from her head. Melissa May, 29, was seriously injured last September when her hair was caught in a belt attached to a log slicer. The company has decided not to appeal a $7,000 fine. Spencer Veneer was cited for failure to properly protect the rotating shafts on the machine, indicating the equipment was not fully enclosed by protective guards. The company has been fined numerous times in the three years since it opened in Spencer. . Charles Rogers, 45, a plant worker died when he fell almost 10 feet from a platform, striking his head on concrete. The company was fined $3,250. OSHA, according to a press release in 2002, proposed numerous citations and penalties of $123,000 for several violations. In 2001 the company was cited for 23 violations, including 19 serious violations, with proposed fines of more than $62,000. The company contested those findings before reaching a settlement, which deleted three of the serious violations and reduced the fines to $22,250, according to Spencer Newspapers.

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