Besse Forest Products, Inc.

An employee was standing on a bundled stick stack to cut metal banding when his foot slipped and he fell into a railing. The employee sustained a ruptured liver.

An employee was putting logs on the deck from his front-end loader when he noticed a problem. The employee went to clear the clean-out chute in the sawmill debarker area when the machine was activated. His right thumb became caught in the drive chain, resulting in an amputation to the tip.

An employee was working with an edger when a board became stuck. While the saw was still running, the board that was jammed spun out of the edger chamber and struck the employee in the right arm resulting in a fractured radius and ulna.

An employee was using a pry bar to loosen a chipper wheel on a piece of machinery when wet saw dust caused the chipper wheel to lock up. When the employee loosened the wheel, his position and force caused him to fall backwards. His foot was under the frame of the machine at the time and because of his momentum and angle, he fractured his right femur.

An employee was operating a forklift and unloading a truck. After the truck was unloaded, the employee got off the forklift and proceeded to adjust the dock plate with a hook tool. The dock plate slipped and the employee went to adjust the plate with their hand when their left middle finger got caught. Their finger was amputated above the first joint.

An employee was rotating a carbide granulator blade when his finger was caught between the blade and a stationary part of the machine. The employee's right middle finger was partially amputated and they suffered an avulsion to the right ring fingertip.

An employee was using a CNC metal lathe machine in manual mode to check that the thread blocking tool made contact with the jaws. As the employee was manually spinning the spindle, his index fingertip was crushed between the spindle's jaws and the grooving insert, resulting in a fingertip amputation.

During a material handling operation, an employee's fingertip was caught under an air conditioning unit as the unit was lowered onto a cart. The employee's fingertip was amputated.

An employee was removing a bolt from a tractor hub when their right index finger was caught between the hub and the frame. The employee's fingertip was crushed and the employee was hospitalized.

An employee was using a water hose to clean debris out of the outfeed of a log conditioning vat. Water began entering the vat from the adjoining vat through a void in the separation wall at the infeed of the vats. As the employee was exiting the vat he had been working in using the access opening at the outfeed, hot water exiting the access opening entered the top of his protective hip wader. It pooled at the bottom of the wader and burned his left foot and ankle.

On August 31, 2025, an employee was pulling a belt around a pulley when their right ring finger was caught between the pulley and the belt for the underdraft fan. The finger was lacerated and the employee was hospitalized.

An employee was on a ladder, pruning a tree in the outside picnic area. The employee lost their balance and fell. The employee was hospitalized with a fracture to their lower left leg.

On May 8, 2025, an employee was dumping a trash hopper while operating a forklift. His left hand was caught in a pinch point on the bottom of the trash hopper, resulting in a partial amputation to the index fingertip.

An employee was cleaning an air station with a pressure washer when the water stream went through their boot and contacted their left foot, resulting in a 1.5 inch by 1 inch laceration to the top of the foot.

The injured employee was assisting five other employees with bracing a wall panel that was being stood up. Another employee slipped on frost on the floor surface. The employees went to evacuate the area in anticipation of the wall panel falling over. The injured employee went to jump through a window opening within the wall panel and their lower half was crushed by the falling wall panel. The employee sustained a fractured pelvis.

An employee was using a vertical band saw to cut a thick piece of rubber material. While being cut, the material shifted, causing the employee s right hand to contact the moving blade. The employee's thumb was amputated below the knuckle. The employee was hospitalized, undergoing surgery.

A production sanitation employee was pre-rinsing an incline conveyor and noticed cheese stuck between the belt idler. The employee went to remove the cheese and their glove got caught and pulled their left forearm into the conveyor. The employee's arm was fractured. The machine was not locked out/tagged out at the time.

An employee was on a ladder, taking measurements for a new gutter installation. The ladder slipped out from under him and both he and the ladder fell to the ground. He was hospitalized with seven broken ribs and a broken clavicle.

An employee was unloading a truck for a delivery job. While moving boxes in the truck, the employee tripped over a pallet and fell out of the truck to the ground, resulting in four broken ribs.