Logging company willfully exposes workers to amputation hazards at Elkview, West Virginia, worksite

Employer name: Ross Logging, PO Box 119, Seth, West Virginia. The worksite was located on Leatherwood Road in Elkview, West Virginia.

Citations issued: On Sept. 9, 2015, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued two willful, eight serious, and one other-than-serious safety citations.

Investigation findings: OSHA determined that employees were operating chainsaws withoutcut-resistant boots or socks and were drop starting the chainsaws while felling trees, exposing them to severe lacerations and amputations hazards. Inspectors also found that employees were not working within visual or audible contact of each other, and that the employer failed to provide first-aid kits at the worksite.

Proposed penalties: $42,000

Quote: "Logging has been recognized as one of the most hazardous industries, and has been the source of seven fatalities in West Virginia since Jan. 1, 2013," said Prentice Cline, OSHA's area director in Charleston. "A serious incident can happen in an instant. This is why it's vital that employers take all of the necessary steps to protect their workers."

View the citations: http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/RossLogging_1052789.pdf.

To ask questions; obtain compliance assistance; file a complaint; or report amputations, eye loss, workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency's Charleston Area Office at 304-347-5937.