Closer inspection

Prosales, August, 2005 by Ron Koons

Your June editorial ("Safety in Numbers," page 14) was great information for all lumberyards. There is one area of the information that could be slightly misleading. When the Federal Government forced the new NAICS classifications on all federal and state agencies, there wasn't an exact conversion for many categories. Your total number of inspections for the period of Jan. 1,2000, to May 10, 2005, was understated by quite a large amount. In NAICS 444110 (Homecenters) there were 381 Inspections and 444190 (Other Building Material Dealers) had 707 inspections. If you run check on the old sic code 5211 (lumberyards) you will find there were actually 1,983 inspections in the same period. Federal OSHA and all state plan states have averaged around 400 inspections per year (total) in sic code 5211 for several years. Please keep in mind that if a lumberyard gets placed under another category, such as construction (when doing installed sales) or manufacturing, those inspections will not show up under any of the normal codes. The actual figures are probably always higher than 400. I have specifically identified lumber operations that have been cited under at least six other categories in the past.

Ron Koons, Co-owner, RoSaKo Safety, Middletown, Ind.