TIGERTON LUMBER COMPANY
According to U.S. Department of Labor enforcement records, TIGERTON LUMBER COMPANY — a industry sector 00 facility located at 121 CEDAR STREET, TIGERTON, WI 54486 — was the subject of a formal OSHA inspection that resulted in 81 citation(s) and cumulative proposed penalties of $224,242.30. The inspection case was opened on 1989-03-09.
Cumulative penalties significantly exceed the national median for OSHA enforcement actions. The penalty amount suggests multiple high-gravity citations, indicating conditions that presented a substantial probability of death or serious physical harm to employees.
Industry Benchmark: The total penalty of $224,242.30 is more than 187.5× the national average of $1,195.75 for facilities in the Other sector (NAICS 000000). This sector encompasses 1,316,687 inspected facilities nationwide with aggregate penalties totaling $1,574.4M.
State Context: Within WI, this facility's penalty places it at the 100th percentile among 43,331 inspected facilities. The statewide average penalty is $3,505.68.
Citation Analysis: The inspection produced 81 citations spanning 7 distinct OSHA regulatory standards. The citation breakdown includes: 11 serious — A workplace hazard that could cause death or serious physical harm exists, and the employer knew or should have known about the condition. 4 other-than-serious — The violation has a direct relationship to job safety and health but is unlikely to cause death or serious physical harm.
Enforcement Timeline: Citations were issued beginning May 30, 1997 with the latest abatement deadline set for July 1, 2004. Of the 81 total citations, 14 (17%) have been marked as abated in DOL records, which may indicate ongoing compliance gaps requiring further regulatory attention.
Penalty Assessment: The cumulative penalty of $224,242.30 reflects OSHA's gravity-based penalty calculation methodology, which considers the severity of potential injury, the probability of occurrence, the employer's size, good faith, and violation history. The per-citation average of $2,768.42 falls within the standard penalty range.
The 1989 inspection of Tigerton Lumber Company revealed a catastrophic breakdown of safety management systems, evidenced by a staggering 81 citations and a penalty total exceeding $224,000—a figure that, in the late 1980s, signaled an extraordinary level of enforcement typically reserved for egregious offenders. The citation pattern indicates a pervasive failure to address the fundamental mechanical and operational hazards inherent to sawmill environments. Specifically, the interplay between 1910.147 (Lockout/Tagout) and 1910.265 (Sawmill-specific standards) suggests that workers were routinely exposed to amputations and crushing injuries during equipment maintenance and normal production. The lack of standardized energy control procedures and machine guarding for high-risk woodworking equipment reflects a systemic culture of non-compliance rather than isolated technical lapses. Furthermore, the inclusion of 1910.38 and 1910.151 violations points to a broader neglect of emergency preparedness and life-safety infrastructure. For workers, this environment represented a high-probability risk of catastrophic injury due to the combination of unguarded machinery and the absence of a formal safety program. From a legal and regulatory standpoint, the sheer volume of violations and the resulting fiscal liability demonstrate