News

From, Pulp Truth, USW



One of our members had a fatal accident at around 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, June 22 at Haverhill Paperboard in

Haverhill, Massachusetts. According to The Eagle-Tribune, the victim, Lloyd “Butch” Benjamin, 49, a member of Local 204, fell about 25 feet from a ladder and struck his head. He was working inside the plant at the time of the incident and was taken by ambulance to the local hospital where he was pronounced dead. Kim Nibarger from the USW Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Department is conducting an investigation of the incident. Al McDougall, coordinator of the USW Emergency Response Team (ERT) program is assisting the family. Haverhill Paperboard is part of the Newark Group, which has USW members at 11 of its mills.

Local 2-21 members Trudy Broman and Paul Nelson, who work at the NewPage mill in Escanaba, Mich., were on top

of a tank that once had sodium chlorate in it that they were assigned to wash out with water. An explosion occurred—the cause is unknown at this time—and Broman sustained severe third degree burns on 50 to 60 percent of her body. She was in critical condition and was transported to a hospital in Milwaukee. Her doctors were concerned about the condition of her lungs and she has a long road of recovery ahead of her. Nelson sustained second-degree burns on his hands and is recovering from his injuries. HSE representative Kim Nibarger is investigating the incident, which occurred July 8, and ERT representative Duronda Pope is assisting the family.

USW member Grady Olson of Local 2-469 was seriously injured when his right arm was caught between a roll of

paper and a powered “paster roll” in a paper coating machine at the Appleton Paper facility in Appleton,Wisconsin.

Brother Olson is recovering from the July 11, 2008, accident at Appleton Medical Center’s intensive care unit.

Around 1:30 p.m. on July 15, Local 449 member Peter Conley, who works at the Huhtamaki Paper facility in

Waterville, Maine, became dizzy and ultimately lost consciousness while he was at work. After a protracted rescue

effort, he was taken to a local hospital and later was transported to Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine. Conley

is in the cardiac intensive care unit and his family has been told he suffered massive damage, probably due to a stroke,

with ancillary heart damage. HSE assistant director Dave Ortlieb is conducting the investigation and ERT representative Hilary Chiz is assisting the family.