Pine Tree Industries is in the logging and lumber industry. It has more than 15,000 employees. One
Question:
Pine Tree Industries is in the logging and lumber industry. It has more than 15,000 employees.
One morning in March 2020, a Pine Tree forkliftstored in a warehouse that doubled as a "parking garage"developed an oil leak. Rochelle, a Pine Tree manager, noticed that three prime parking spots near the elevator were saturated with oil from the forklift. She made a mental note to have someone post warning signs and clean the oil spill. But, in the end, she failed to do either. Later that same morning, Yvonne, a sales employee, slipped and fell on the oil spill as she was getting out of her car. Yvonne limped into Ed's fifth floor office to report the incident. Ed, Pine Tree's Director of Human Resources, nodded a few times, but paid no attention to what Yvonne was saying. He did not take notes or otherwise record the incident.
This was not the first time that Ed had ignored safety concerns. In January 2020, thirteen employees informed Ed about an air quality issue. Ronnie, the company's chief maintenance officer, insisted in keeping open all of the windows in Pine Tree's main building. Due to Ronnie's open-windows policy, formaldehyde fumes from the lumber processing plant routinely wafted into the first floor of Pine Tree's main building. One employee, Ursula, made her complaint in person.She told Ed that she had developed typical formaldehyde exposure symptoms, including a recurring skin rash, eye irritation, and pain in her nose and throat. Ed ignored her. The other twelve employees registered their formaldehyde concerns via email, but Ed never opened or recorded their emails. The formaldehyde problem was never resolved.
In May 2020, Ed became concerned that COVID-19 posed a potential safety hazard in the company's wood processing facilities. Employees in that facility were required to work closely together in a very small, unventilated space. In response to this perceived COVID-19 threat, Ed asked Ronnie to install ceiling fans in the processing facility. Ninety percent of the employees in the facility contracted COVID-19 and one employee, Victoria, died from it. Ed did not record Victoria's COVID-19-related death or report it to OSHA. Victoria's spouse filed a workers compensation claim, which was denied because Pine Tree determined that her death was not work-related.
One late afternoon in June 2020, Vernon, a logger and all-around jokester, tired after 8 hours in the field, had one last tree to cut down. Before doing so, he decided to entertain his colleagues by reenacting a key scene from Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The chainsaw did not cooperate, and Vernon ended up slicing off his left thumb. Vernon spent five days in the hospital, where doctors reattached his thumb. Pine Tree waited two days before reporting Vernon's hospitalization to OSHA; Pine Tree made no mention of the severed thumb. Vernon filed a workers compensation claim, which the company denied.
In July 2020, OSHA inspectors reviewed Pine Tree's illness and injury logs, inspected the air quality, and issued a citation and a $140,000 penalty. The citation and penalty became a final order of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission ("OSHRC"). Ed was shocked by the amount of the penalty but did not challenge it, based on a belief that all OSHRC decisions are final and not subject to further review.
PART I - ANALYSIS
- Discuss Yvonne's oil spill slip-and-fall in the parking garage.
- Identify any potential legal liability faced by Pine Tree, and how the actions of Rochelle and Ed may affect Pine Tree's legal exposure.
- Describe at least one change that you would make to Pine Tree's policies and procedures to reduce the likelihood of future legal liability.
- Discuss the formaldehyde scenario.
- Identify any potential legal liability faced by Pine Tree, and how the actions of Ed and Ronnie may affect Pine Tree's legal exposure
- Describe at least one change that you would make to Pine Tree's policies and procedures to reduce the likelihood of future legal liability
- Discuss the COVID-19 outbreak at Pine Tree's wood processing facility.
- Identify any potential legal liability faced by Pine Tree, and how Ed's actions may affect Pine Tree's legal exposure.
- Describe at least one change that you would make to Pine Tree's policies and procedures to reduce the likelihood of future legal liability.
- Discuss the Vernon incident.
- Identify and discuss the OSHA issues.
- Identify and discuss the workers compensation issue.