Billerud Temporarily Idles Escanaba Mill In Michigan
Board Converting NEWS INTERNET DIRECTORY
Solna, Stockholm based Billerud announced the tempo- rary idling of the Escanaba Mill for up to three weeks as a precautionary measure to protect the health and safety of its employees and contractors due to a blastomycosis fungal infection outbreak. “Our top priority now and always is protecting the health and safety of our employees and contractors who work at our Escanaba Mill,” said Christoph Michalski, Billerud President and CEO. “We care deeply about their well-be- ing and are doing everything we can to protect them and identify and address the root cause of the blastomycosis fungal infections. As a precautionary measure, we will temporarily idle the Escanaba Mill for up to three weeks to facilitate additional proper cleaning based on recom- mendations from NIOSH and other organizations, which requires larger portions of the mill to be vacant while this work is performed. The financial impact is assessed to be limited since the production at the Escanaba Mill was be- ing adjusted to meet current market demand.” Billerud first learned of the blastomycosis fungal infec- tions on March 3 from the Public Health Delta & Menom- inee Counties (PHDM), the local health department in Escanaba, Michigan, after PHDC was notified by the lo- cal hospital of several atypical pneumonia infections in in- dividuals who work at the Escanaba Mill. Initial testing of individuals confirmed some of these infections are caused by a fungal infection called blastomycosis. To date, there have been 21 confirmed cases and 76 probable cases of blastomycosis among Escanaba Mill workers. Billerud’s leadership, occupational health and safety department, union leadership and mill employees have been proactively working with the PHDM, an industrial hygienist, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to investigate the outbreak. “Although the source of the infection has not been es- tablished, and we have not received any information from the mill’s investigation, public health officials, or any of the organizations assisting in this investigation, that indicates visiting or working at the mill is unsafe, we take this mat- ter very seriously,” says Kevin Kuznicki, Billerud President North America. “We are following recommendations from experts at these organizations, including deep cleaning in high traffic areas throughout the mill; inspecting ventilation systems and replacing filters, and testing various raw materials coming into the mill; conducting an onsite Health Hazard Evaluation to study the health and safety of Escanaba em- ployees with the assistance of NIOSH, CDC, MDHHS and PHDM; communicating regularly with employees, contrac- tors and visitors, encouraging them to wear NIOSH and OSHA-recommended N95 masks and recommending
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April 24, 2023
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