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RIDDLE — A Tri City man died Sunday after a mill accident in Riddle put him in the hospital early last week.
Internal and external investigations are under way.
Family members decided to pull John Howze, 60, off life-support equipment Sunday and were planning his memorial service this morning.
The service is planned for 2 p.m. Saturday at Millsite Park in Myrtle Creek.
Howze, a millwright at the Roseburg Forest Products Plant No. 4, fell about 9 feet from his work station and hit his head on the concrete floor Tuesday evening when a plywood platform he was working on gave way, according to multiple sources.
Paramedics from Douglas County Fire District No. 2 responded at 4:25 p.m. Tuesday and took Howze to Mercy Medical Center. He was then transported to Oregon Health and Sciences University in Portland.
Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division is investigating the accident, as is the Douglas County-based company.
“Both our internal and OSHA investigations continue at this point and we have no further comment about the accident,” said Hank Snow, RFP's vice president of human resources.
Melanie Mesaros, spokeswoman for Oregon OSHA, said the state agency would be conducting interviews and looking at safety precautions taken, as well as protocols and training Howze was given prior to the accident.
“(We're) looking at all the circumstances that led up to this, to see if it could have been prevented, if safeguards could have been put in place,” she said.
Mesaros said fatality investigations can take up to three months, but added that the agency began looking into the accident on Wednesday.
She said she couldn't comment further on what types of safety equipment Howze was using at the time of the accident.
Howze's brother Zachary Costello, a retired boiler man from the same plant, said the impact caused massive swelling of Howze's brain, which prompted doctors at OHSU to remove part of his skull and a large part of the right side of his brain.
Sister Deborah Herring said this morning the brain damage was so extensive, his body wasn't able to operate without the aid of life support.
“The prognosis was so bad, and he's 60, you know, he would have never been him,” she said.
Herring said RFP had contacted Howze's two adult daughters, but the family had received little other contact with the employer.
Costello was frustrated by RFP's response and what he characterized as a chronic problem at the plant.
“It doesn't seem right. Our families are getting torn up over these mills,” he said. “Seems to me there should be some more safety (measures) at that plant.”
Mesaros said there had been two inspections — in 2009 and in 2004 — at RFP Plant No. 4 in the past five years and that no major problems were reported.
Howze's friend and close motorcycle buddy, Richard Bumcrot, said two motorcycle groups will carry Howze's ashes from Portland to Myrtle Creek, where his remains will be spread at the same site as his son's ashes.
His son, Jered Howze, died in 2001 from a heart failure during track practice while he was a student at South Umpqua High School.
Bumcrot said Howze was an avid motorcycle rider and they were part of a group of eight that had been nicknamed the Del Fuegos after a six-state ride in the summer of 2008.
A veteran motorcycle club, the Patriot Guard, will also accompany the processional Saturday. Howze was a Vietnam veteran.
• You can reach reporter DD Bixby at 957-4211 or by e-mail at dbixby@nrtoday.com.
Internal and external investigations are under way.
Family members decided to pull John Howze, 60, off life-support equipment Sunday and were planning his memorial service this morning.
The service is planned for 2 p.m. Saturday at Millsite Park in Myrtle Creek.
Howze, a millwright at the Roseburg Forest Products Plant No. 4, fell about 9 feet from his work station and hit his head on the concrete floor Tuesday evening when a plywood platform he was working on gave way, according to multiple sources.
Paramedics from Douglas County Fire District No. 2 responded at 4:25 p.m. Tuesday and took Howze to Mercy Medical Center. He was then transported to Oregon Health and Sciences University in Portland.
Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division is investigating the accident, as is the Douglas County-based company.
“Both our internal and OSHA investigations continue at this point and we have no further comment about the accident,” said Hank Snow, RFP's vice president of human resources.
Melanie Mesaros, spokeswoman for Oregon OSHA, said the state agency would be conducting interviews and looking at safety precautions taken, as well as protocols and training Howze was given prior to the accident.
“(We're) looking at all the circumstances that led up to this, to see if it could have been prevented, if safeguards could have been put in place,” she said.
Mesaros said fatality investigations can take up to three months, but added that the agency began looking into the accident on Wednesday.
She said she couldn't comment further on what types of safety equipment Howze was using at the time of the accident.
Howze's brother Zachary Costello, a retired boiler man from the same plant, said the impact caused massive swelling of Howze's brain, which prompted doctors at OHSU to remove part of his skull and a large part of the right side of his brain.
Sister Deborah Herring said this morning the brain damage was so extensive, his body wasn't able to operate without the aid of life support.
“The prognosis was so bad, and he's 60, you know, he would have never been him,” she said.
Herring said RFP had contacted Howze's two adult daughters, but the family had received little other contact with the employer.
Costello was frustrated by RFP's response and what he characterized as a chronic problem at the plant.
“It doesn't seem right. Our families are getting torn up over these mills,” he said. “Seems to me there should be some more safety (measures) at that plant.”
Mesaros said there had been two inspections — in 2009 and in 2004 — at RFP Plant No. 4 in the past five years and that no major problems were reported.
Howze's friend and close motorcycle buddy, Richard Bumcrot, said two motorcycle groups will carry Howze's ashes from Portland to Myrtle Creek, where his remains will be spread at the same site as his son's ashes.
His son, Jered Howze, died in 2001 from a heart failure during track practice while he was a student at South Umpqua High School.
Bumcrot said Howze was an avid motorcycle rider and they were part of a group of eight that had been nicknamed the Del Fuegos after a six-state ride in the summer of 2008.
A veteran motorcycle club, the Patriot Guard, will also accompany the processional Saturday. Howze was a Vietnam veteran.
• You can reach reporter DD Bixby at 957-4211 or by e-mail at dbixby@nrtoday.com.
