Nippon Dynawave Packaging plans to appeal the $77,800 penalty the company received after a worker at its Longview, Washington, pulp mill fell into a seven-foot-deep spill of hot pulp in March.
According to the Washington Department of Labor and Industries, the pulp had spilled from a tank after a valve was left open. The worker waded up to his thighs through thick, 145-degree Fahrenheit liquid to shut the valve and stop the spill.
FILE — Aerial views of the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. in Longview, Wash., showing the scene of a major chemical tank implosion at a Southwest Washington paper mill, May 26, 2026.
Brandon Swanson / OPB
But he fell into an unseen, four-foot-deep sinkhole the gushing pulp had opened in the ground. The worker was nearly engulfed in seven feet of pulp.
According to Labor and Industries, he told inspectors at one point he thought, “I’m not going to make it back.”
But he was able to get a foothold on the side of the sinkhole and climb to the surface.
“We take all workplace incidents very seriously,” an unnamed Nippon Dynawave spokesperson said by email. “We conducted a full internal investigation of the March 2026 incident and took corrective action.”
The spokesperson, who did not respond to a request for their name, said that no one was injured in the incident.
The agency cited Nippon Dynawave for exposing a worker to “serious thermal and engulfment hazards” and not having a formal program for inspecting and maintaining the pipes of dangerously hot pulp.
Managers told the Department of Labor and Industries the Longview mill had spills like that every couple of months.
The sinkhole incident happened two months before a much larger spill of caustic “white liquor” killed 11 workers at the mill and injured eight others.
State and federal agencies continue to investigate that spill, the state’s worst industrial accident in nearly a century.
In a preliminary finding issued in August, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board found that Nippon Dynawave ignored warnings that its 1.2-million-gallon white liquor tank was no longer fit for service for nearly a year before it imploded.
The Washington Department of Labor and Industries has broadened its inquiries and is now investigating chemical use and storage at 10 pulp mills in Washington state.
John Ryan is a reporter with KUOW. This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
It is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit our journalism partnerships page.
