The Human Cost of Mill Work
A sawmill worker files a lawsuit after a workplace accident resulted in the amputation of his foot, questioning corporate responsibility for onsite safety.
Andrew Noren filed a suit against the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber company yesterday evening, claiming $5,000 damages. The plaintiff alleges that during the month of October 1902, he was employed in the dry kiln, but was told by the foreman to help in removing wind cars loaded with refuse from the sawmill. While so engaged he fell in front of one of the cars and his foot was run over. The member was so badly crushed that amputation was necessary. H. W. Lenders is Noren's attorney.
“The member was so badly crushed that amputation was necessary.”
Workplace injury litigation remains a critical intersection of labor rights and corporate liability. The specific naming of the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber company highlights the immense power these timber conglomerates held over the lives of Tacoma's industrial workforce.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.