A joint venture of APTIM and North Wind Group failed to properly train laborers on use of a circular saw prior to a November 2022 accident, which caused a worker to lose a finger at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, the agency said last week.
“While cutting, a kickback occurred, which caused the saw to move backward and contact the worker’s left index finger, resulting in traumatic injury to their left hand and surgical amputation of their left index finger,” Anthony Pierpoint, said in a Jan. 4 “enforcement letter” to APTIM-North Wind. Pierpoint heads enforcement at DOE’s Office of Enterprise Assessments.
“Issuance of this letter reflects DOE’s decision to not pursue further enforcement activity” against APTIM-North Wind, according to the letter.
The letter cited concerns with the contractors’ hazard training and prevention efforts while working on the new Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex at Oak Ridge.
DOE said the circular saw involved “is intended to be used with two hands, per the manufacturer’s instructions.” But while cutting the lumber, the worker stabilized the lumber with the left hand and operated the circular saw’s trigger with the right hand.
APTIM-North Wind did not give workers adequate training on hand placement, did not ensure the lumber was secured to a stable platform, nor did it follow manufacturer instructions to ensure the lumber was checked for defects, such as embedded nails or knots, DOE said.
In November 2023, DOE revealed it was not extending the APTIM-North Wind contract and would turn completion of the Mercury Treatment Facility project over to Oak Ridge’s environmental prime, United Cleanup Oak Ridge. Evidently DOE was not satisfied with the pace of progress on the project, industry sources said at the time.
