An unsafe practice that was allegedly encouraged by his employer resulted in a 52-year-old man losing his life in December 2005. Gordon Lewis Cecil, a married man with four children, died after attempting to unclog a jammed wood chipper at a Boise Cascade plant in Umatilla, OR.

Cecil and a co-worker had been using a log to clear the machine. When they heard the clog release, Cecil ran out of the way. A heavy piece of wood flew out the machine and struck him in the back of the head. He died […]