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January 14, 2007
2 Iowa prisons face $92,000 in fines

By William Petroski
Register Staff Writer

State prisons in Fort Madison and Newton face $92,000 in fines for three workplace accidents and an incident that involved the forced removal of an inmate from his cell.

Prison spokesman Fred Scaletta said the Iowa Department of Corrections has appealed the fines, levied by the Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Bureau. An administrative law judge could decide the cases this spring.

The incidents:

- Fort Madison inmate Mack Bass suffered a severed finger on a table saw in an Iowa Prison Industries shop on March 2, 2006.

- Fort Madison Inmate Charles Ranson was severely cut by an electric saw seven months earlier.

- An unidentified inmate at the Newton Correctional Facility suffered an electric shock Jan. 5, 2006, while he repaired a food service steam table. The electricity hadn't been shut off before repairs began, state safety records show.

- An allegedly troublemaking inmate who was pulled from his cell at the Newton prison in January 2006 exposed prison employees to blood or potentially other infectious materials.

Money to pay the fines - $12,000 at Fort Madison, $80,000 at Newton - would come from the corrections department and be deposited into the state's general fund, "which is a lot like robbing Peter to pay Paul," said Gail Sheridan-Lucht, a state lawyer for the safety bureau. Such fines frequently are reduced if an agency corrects problems and improves training, she said.

Roger Baysden, director of Iowa Prison Industries, said safety violations have been rare in his 10 years as head of the work program. Scaletta said questions about possible violations have arisen elsewhere but haven't been a chronic problem.

Investigators said the saw that Bass was operating lacked a hood guard and equipment to prevent "kickback." Prison workers who cleaned up the blood had not been trained for occupational exposure to blood or other potentially infectious material, inspectors said. Safety officials also cited the penitentiary for its record-keeping in such incidents.

Becky Munoz, prison industries manager at Fort Madison, said Bass and Ranson violated prison safety rules. Bass had not been trained to use the saw and did not have permission to operate it, she said. In Ranson's case, a "do not operate" sign had been placed near the saw because it was set up for a specific job, she added.

The Fort Madison Prison Industries program had provided all of its employees with training on blood-borne pathogens, but now there are inmates trained to handle blood spills, Munoz said. She said the prison always kept records on staff accidents, but officials didn't realize that a state accident log for inmate workers also was required.

The log, she said, is now in place.

One of the citations contends Newton prison managers did not ensure that staff members washed their hands and other skin as soon as possible after they were exposed to blood and other infectious materials. The prison also did not ensure that staffers wore protective gear such as helmets and face shields, inspectors said.

Boots and uniforms of officers that were penetrated with blood and other infectious materials were not promptly removed after the forced cell removal, inspectors said. The employees also hadn't received proper training on blood-borne pathogens, safety officials said.

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