TIFFIN, Ohio – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Ameriwood Industries Inc., a wood furniture manufacturer in Tiffin, with two alleged serious and two alleged repeat safety violations for failing to train employees in safe work practices and require them to wear proper safety equipment when working on electrical panels. Proposed penalties total $60,000.

“Injuries from electrical shock hazards are very preventable, especially if personal protective equipment is used and workers receive the proper training,” said OSHA Area Director Jule Hovi in Toledo, Ohio. “OSHA is committed to ensuring that all workers are provided a safe and healthful workplace.”

OSHA began its inspection in June, resulting in the issuance of two repeat violations for failing to train workers in proper safety procedures, and to ensure workers wore fire resistant clothing and voltage-rated protective gloves when working on 480-volt electrical panels. Those citations carry penalties of $50,000. OSHA issues a repeat violation when an employer previously was cited for the same or a similar violation of any standard, regulation, rule or order at any other facility in federal enforcement states within the last five years.

The company also received two serious citations for failing to implement safety-related work practices and require employees to wear personal face protection gear when working on electrical panels, resulting in an additional $10,000 in fines. A serious citation is issued when there is a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

Ameriwood Industries Inc. was cited by OSHA in 2009 with 12 violations for exposing workers to hazardous dust, a lack of training, failing to ensure employees wore personal protective equipment, and failing to implement and train employees in lockout/tagout procedures of energy sources. The 2009 case was settled informally and the company paid $70,725 in penalties.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Employers and employees with questions regarding workplace safety and health standards can call OSHA’s Toledo office at 419-259-7542. To report workplace accidents, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, call OSHA’s toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742).

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to assure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

After a complaint from an employee, the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspected the hospital last month, said John Chavez, a Beverly Hospital spokesman.

“OSHA found that some hospital employees were exposed to potential electric shock, burns, arc flash incidents and electrocution while changing circuit breakers on live electrical panels,” said a statement from OSHA.

In the statement, OSHA specified that these conditions resulted in $28,000 in fines. The company also incurred a $35,000 fine for a repeat citation stemming from an alleged failure to ensure that unused openings in electrical panels and cabinet motor control centers were effectively closed, the statement said.

In a statement, Northeast Hospital Corporation did not agree with allegations, but ensured cooperation with OSHA.

“We are evaluating the citations and will of course address any conditions that pose a risk,” the statement said. “Although we may disagree with the allegations of the citations, we look forward to continuing to work with OSHA to ensure the highest level of safety and care for our patients, staff and communities.”

Northeast Hospital Corporation has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, meet with the OSHA area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, according to OSHA.

BILLINGS, Mont. – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued citations to North Western Energy in Billings for one repeat and two serious safety violations after an employee was injured while working on high-voltage equipment.

“An apprentice lineman came into contact with 7,200 volts and was seriously injured because this employer failed to implement safety standards, even though the company previously had been cited for similar violations at its Corwin Springs, Mont., facility,” said Christine A. Webb, OSHA’s area director in Billings.

The repeat citation was issued for failing to implement a minimum distance from high-voltage equipment. A repeat citation is issued when an employer previously has been cited for the same or a similar violation of a standard, regulation, rule or order at any other facility in federal enforcement states within the last five years.

North Western Energy was cited with two serious violations for failing to train workers on equipment used to energize electrical lines, and to examine, clean and test electrical equipment. A serious citation is issued when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

OSHA has proposed penalties totaling $49,000 for the citations.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations and proposed penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director or contest the finding before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

To report workplace incidents, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, call the agency’s toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742).

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to assure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and providing training, education and assistance.

The Ohio native and Mars Hill resident talked in detail on Monday about upcoming skin-grafting surgeries and procedures as two therapists at County Physical Therapy in Presque Isle stretched, manipulated and massaged his injured arms, hands and chest, which suffered third-degree burns during an electrical accident last fall.

Wetzel also spoke of his extended hospital stays in Boston, of his family and of the support of his wife, Courtney. And while he grimaced in pain and gasped slightly at times during the therapy session, there were two words the 25-year-old never said:”Ouch” or “Stop.”

“Zane is just an awesome patient,” Adam Simoes, occupational therapist and director of workplace services at CPT, said Monday afternoon. “He is motivated, he works hard during therapy, and he goes home and does the exercises that we give him and works just as hard there. He endures a lot, and he never complains. It is amazing to see how far he has come.”

On Oct. 12, 2010, the apprentice lineman for Maine Public Service Co. in Presque Isle suffered a flash burn to 50 percent of his body while working at the MPS substation on the Parkhurst Siding Road. His chest, back, arm and neck were burned.

Brent Boyles, president and chief executive officer of Maine and Maritime Corp. and MPS, said Tuesday that an investigation into what happened during Wetzel’s accident has been completed by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Boyles said that Wetzel was standing on a scissor lift when a charge of electricity arced and touched the corner of the lift. The electricity traveled to the ground and bounced back, burning him. The safety equipment prevented Wetzel from being electrocuted, Boyles said. He added that OSHA has requested that the company conduct refresher safety training, which Boyles said the company has started.

He was in a drug-induced coma for more than a month in the intensive care unit at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He has endured an estimated 10 surgeries, including several operations to graft skin from his legs onto his burns. In November, he was transferred from Brigham and Women’s to Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Cambridge, Mass. He spent two weeks in that hospital and remained in Boston for outpatient therapy before coming home at the end of January.

Now, Wetzel spends up to 2½ hours a day, five days a week, at County Physical Therapy. He is being assisted by a team of therapists that includes Simoes; Paul Marquis, a physical therapist and vice president of clinical operations at the facility; and Jonas Bard, who is also a physical therapist. While Wetzel was at the rehabilitation hospital, Simoes left Presque Isle and traveled to the facility to spend two days observing the care he was getting from the therapists in Massachusetts.

“I wanted to do it so that when Zane came back, we could hit the ground running from Day One,” Simoes said Monday while working with Wetzel on low-load, long-duration stretching. The exercises slowly stretch and extend his limbs to help give the 25-year-old better range of motion and mobility. In the long term, Simoes explained, such exercises also will improve his quality of life.

“When Zane got back from Massachusetts, we started right in with the stretches and exercises,” he continued. “There was no time lost between what he had been doing out there and what we started doing here.”

‘Above and beyond’

When Wetzel arrives at CPT, therapists spend up to an hour rubbing his chest and arms with a special cream to moisten his skin so that it can stretch better. The rubbing also brings blood flow to the soft tissues, according to Marquis. While patches of skin on Wetzel’s chest and arms are smooth and supple, the burn site is tough and leathery. He said Monday that it doesn’t hurt to touch or rub. He also suffered nerve damage in his right hand from the accident.

“I barely have any feeling in it,” Wetzel said. He can feel tingling in a few of his fingers, but others are numb. The loss of sensation is so bad that he recently dropped an object that he was holding and did not even realize it until he heard it hit the floor. Simoes said it can take a year or more for nerves to regenerate and Wetzel could get the feeling back in his hand. The accident also damaged his hearing slightly, so he likely will need hearing aids.

Simoes and Marquis said Wetzel never complains, but they have gotten to know him so well that they can tell when he is in pain by reading his body language. During stretching, he lies on his back on the table, with his legs bent and his feet flat on the table.

“When Zane lifts his toes off the table, that is a sign that he is in pain,” Simoes said. “This is painful. It is not easy. But we need to do the stretching because his skin is so tight from all of that time he spent immobilized in the coma, and also while he was healing from the grafting surgeries,” Marquis explained. “As the skin tightened, it limited his range of motion.”

Courtney Wetzel comes to therapy whenever she can. As she watched Simoes and Marquis work with her husband on Monday, she was quick to express how grateful she is to them.

“They have gone above and beyond,” she said. “They have taken this personally. They have customized this to get him the best possible results. It is just amazing.”

The 22-year-old has been by Zane’s side since just minutes after the accident. She never left him while he was in Massachusetts, and only recently went back to work full time. The two met as teenagers at a leadership camp, and even though he lived in Ohio and she lived in Maine, they kept in touch and were engaged when Courtney was in college in Michigan. They married in 2008.

When Zane is at home, he spends an hour or more a day doing stretching and other exercises. It is easier for him to use his less badly injured left arm, so he concentrates on using his right more and more. In December, he could barely lift his arms to touch his face. Now, he can raise his arms so that he can touch the top of a refrigerator. He does so at home in order to stretch his arms and chest.

“We are surprised at how far he has come,” said Marquis. “It is because of his drive and tolerance to pain that he has come as far as he has. He has a long road ahead of him, but is well on his way.”

Simoes agreed. He estimated that Wetzel will need at least a year of physical therapy.

“But he’s healthy, he was active before the accident, and he’s spiritual,” he said. “All of those things work in his favor.”

The Wetzels’ deep Christian faith as Seventh Day Adventists is something they feel has been instrumental in helping Zane heal. Since returning to Maine, they have spoken about their experience and their faith at a number of churches in southern Aroostook County. The requests keep pouring in, and Wetzel said he enjoys speaking.

“It gets easier every time I do it,” he added.

Moving forward

After the intense stretching, Wetzel begins a segment of cardiovascular and weight training. Simoes, Marquis and Bard have him working out on a treadmill, elliptical machines and arm bikes, as well as using weight machines and lifting free weights. All of the exercises, Marquis explained, have helped to increase his mobility.

Working out on the elliptical machine Monday, Wetzel said he remembers very little about the accident or its aftermath.

While in the drug-induced coma, he suffered intense fevers. Wetzel said his sedation would sometimes wear off, waking him up for a few seconds at a time. When that happened, he said, his thirst would be raging and his body, he said, felt as if it were boiling.

“I thought I was in Mexico,” he said. “I was so hot and thirsty. And I couldn’t speak because of the tracheotomy. I would have paid $1 million for a glass of water and I kept trying to tell them that, but no one could understand me. At the same time, I couldn’t understand what anyone was saying to me. It was like they were speaking a foreign language.”

These days, Wetzel is only looking forward. He has been driving again for approximately three weeks, and he does many of the exercises at CPT on his own.  He is still underweight after losing 30 pounds in the hospital, but is eating better and has gained back 10 pounds. While he works out, he thinks of his next big goal — going back to work.

“People at Maine Public Service have been so supportive, and I want to go back,” he said, anticipating a full recovery. “I probably will work part time to start, but eventually I plan on going back full time.”

Brent Boyles, the MPS CEO, said Tuesday that the company has implemented more training in light of Wetzel’s accident. Company officials also will hold a “Safety Stand Down Day” in the near future to offer even more education about safety.

For now, Wetzel will continue therapy until his next surgery in April, which also will be in Boston. He will spend approximately five days in the hospital. After that, it is back to Maine and his work with Simoes, Marquis and Bard.

“They’ve really been great,” Wetzel said with a smile. “I wouldn’t be where I am now without them.”

“Employers have a responsibility to ensure workers have safe working environments, which includes ensuring machine guards are in place and personal protective equipment is provided and used by workers,” said Deborah Zubaty, OSHA’s area director in Columbus. “Failing to train employees in electrical safety related work practices is unacceptable, and OSHA is committed to protecting workers, especially when employers fail to do so.”

OSHA issued Ace Iron and Metal one repeat citation for failing to provide machine guarding in place on three shear machines, exposing employees to an amputation hazard. The company received a second repeat citation for missing tongue guards on a Ryobi bench grinder. A repeat citation is issued when an employer previously has been cited for the same or a similar violation of a standard, regulation, rule or order at any other facility in federal enforcement states within the last five years.

Twelve serious citations were issued for failing to install rear view mirrors on both sides of scrap handlers; conduct periodic inspections of energy control procedures; provide training in energy control procedures; ensure electrical safety related work practices were followed during troubleshooting, voltage testing, and maintenance of electrical circuits; provide training on the safe operation of powered industrial trucks; properly use electrical equipment; and provide electrical protective equipment for employees. A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

The company faces penalties totaling $63,000. Prior to the inspection detailed above, Ace Iron and Metal had been inspected by OSHA 10 times since 1987, resulting in 69 prior citations, including a fatal accident that resulted in significant OSHA enforcement actions and penalties of $368,000.

Outland Renewable Services says that it “respectfully disagrees” with the Department of Labor’s findings, which indicate that the company ignored safety rules that led to a worker being severely burned.

Canby-based Outland Renewable Services has received six citations for safety violations after a technician at a wind farm was severely burned in October, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) said on Tuesday.

The citations follow an OSHA investigation at a wind farm in Illinois. OSHA claims that Outland’s management was aware of potentially hazardous conditions for its workers and ignored rules that require the isolation of energy sources during servicing operations. The company was cited for “exposing maintenance technicians to electrical hazards from the unexpected energization of transformers in three wind turbine towers.”

Outland, which provides servicing and maintenance for the wind tower industry, faces a maximum fine of $378,000.

Outland President Steve Scott wrote in an e-mailed statement to Twin Cities Business that the company’s number one priority is employee safety, as demonstrated by its track record.

“We respectfully disagree with OSHA’s initial findings but we look forward to working collaboratively with them to resolve this issue,” Scott wrote. “Outland has already taken steps to ensure that an accident like this does not happen again. Furthermore, we’re thankful that the employee who was injured has returned to work.”

The company has 15 business days to either comply with the citations, request an informal conference with OSHA, or contest the organization’s findings.

“Green jobs are an important part of our economy, and sectors such as wind energy are growing rapidly,” Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis said in a statement. “That growth comes with a continued responsibility for employers to ensure that the health and safety of workers is never compromised.”

Founded in 2005, Outland develops, owns, operates, and maintains commercial renewable energy projects in partnership with landowners, rural communities, and municipalities.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued the citations following an investigation at the Iberdrola Streator Cayuga Ridge South Wind Farm near Odell. The company, a servicing and maintenance provider in the wind tower industry, faces proposed penalties of $378,000.

“Green jobs are an important part of our economy, and sectors such as wind energy are growing rapidly.  That growth comes with a continued responsibility for employers to ensure that the health and safety of workers is never compromised,” Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis said.

“Outland’s management was aware of the potentially hazardous conditions to which its workers could have been exposed and showed intentional disregard for employee safety by ignoring OSHA’s requirements for isolating energy sources during servicing operations.  Employers must not cut corners at the expense of their workers’ safety.”

Outland Renewable Ser-vices was issued the citations for exposing maintenance technicians to electrical hazards from the unexpected energization of transformers in three wind turbine towers.  A willful violation is one committed with intentional knowing or voluntary disregard for the law’s requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health.

On the day of the incident, Outland Renewable Services failed to ensure technicians working in wind farm towers affixed their own energy isolation devices – also known as personal lock and tag devices – on the tower turbine switch gear at ground level. That created the possibility for other workers to energize transformers in the turbine towers, upon which technicians were working at a distance of approximately 350 feet above ground.

The injured worker suffered third-degree burns to his neck, chest and arms, and second-degree burns to the face as a result of an arc flash that occurred when a transformer was unexpectedly energized by another worker.

The egregious violations in this case fall un-der the requirements of OSHA’s Severe Violators Enforcement Program.

Initiated in the spring of 2010, the program is intended to focus on employers that endanger workers by committing willful, repeat or failure-to-abate violations in one or more of the following circumstances: a fatality or catastrophe; industry operations or processes that expose workers to severe occupational hazards; exposure to hazards related to the potential releases of highly hazardous chemicals; and all per-instance citation (egregious) enforcement actions.

For more information about the Severe Violators Enforcement Program, visit http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=DIRECTIVES&p_id=4503.

Outland Renewable Services’ corporate offices are located in Canaby, Minn. This OSHA inspection was the first conducted at the Iberdrola Streator Caugya Ridge South Wind Farm.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Employers and employees with questions regarding workplace safety and health standards can call OSHA’s Peoria office at (309) 589-7033. To report workplace incidents, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, call the agency’s toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742).

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees.  OSHA’s role is to ensure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance.