CAMAS, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – One of the world’s leading paper companies with past ties to Bellingham is facing a hefty fine by the state.

The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) is fining Georgia-Pacific $650,000 after one of its employees was crushed by a packing machine in Camas earlier this year.

L&I says the 32-year-old machine operator had called four times in one hour to ask for help with heavy equipment to stack boxes. Before anyone came to help him, co-workers found him crushed between the large metal arms that feed boxes through the machine.

Management and workers told inspectors that permanent safety guards on the machine were taken off in 2017.

L&I claims Georgia-Pacific violated basic safety rules that directly contributed towards the man’s death. The company is appealing the department’s decision.

Georgia-Pacific previously had a pulp and tissue mill in Bellingham from 1926 through 2007 in what is now the Kulshan Trackside Beer Garden.