Sawmill Where Wisconsin Teen Died in Freak Accident Ordered to Pay $190,000 Fine

A sawmill in Wisconsin where a teenage employee was killed in an industrial accident in June has been ordered to pay a $190,000 fine for violating child labor laws, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Michael Schuls, 16, had been trying to unjam a wood-stacking machine while working at Florence Hardwoods on June 29 when he was pinned inside. Police transported Schuls to the hospital, but he died two days later from traumatic asphyxiation, according to the Florence County Coroner’s office. 

"That's caused by entanglement in a machine," Florence County Coroner Jeff Rickaby previously said, as reported by The Messenger.

Surveillance footage of the tragic incident shows Schuls, who had been working alone, stepping onto a conveyor belt to unjam the machine. He had not pressed a safety button that automatically shuts down the machine before doing so. About 17 minutes later, a coworker found him stuck inside.

State and federal labor agencies investigated Florence Hardwoods and determined it violated multiple child labor laws, a Friday press release from the Labor Department said.

The company was previously ordered to include labels and signage specifying children under the age of 18 cannot operate dangerous equipment or enter the company’s sawmill building, the release said. Florence also agreed to never again hire anyone below the age of 16. 

“This tragic case illustrates just how vital and urgent it is that the Department of Labor uses every tool at our disposal to combat child labor,” said Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su. “Any death of a child is too many.”

In conducting their investigation, labor investigators also learned that three children between the ages of 15 and 16 were injured between 2021 and 2022 and that the sawmill employed nine children between the ages of 14 to 17 to “illegally operate machinery."