TOMAHAWK, Wis. (WSAU-Wheeler News Service) - Federal workplace safety officials announced 185-thousand dollars in fines today against a Tomahawk cardboard box plant where an employee was severely burned in March. Packaging Corporation of America will have to pay those fines or challenge them in an appeals process after being cited for 30 different safety violations in this incident.
53-year-old Mike Slesicki spent months at University of Wisconsin Hospital’s burn unit in Madison after he was severely injured attempting to relight a steam boiler on Monday, March 5th.
This is not the Tomahawk plant’s first problem with injuries. In July of last year, two contractors at the Tomahawk plant were killed by burning fly ash. In 2008, three P-C-A employees died while performing maintenance at the top of a storage tank for recycled fibers. A fourth employee was injured.
P-C-A has not commented on the latest citations. The firm is based in Lake Forest Illinois, north of Chicago.
Slesicki was discharged from University Hospital earlier this summer. His current rehabilitation status is unknown.