Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, July 13, 1993                   TAG: 9307130147
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

INJURED WORKER FILES APPEAL WITH STATE

Loretta Shelton lost her right hand in May 1992 to the blades of a cutting machine at the Brown Products Inc. plant in Axton. Shelton had worked at the plant for two weeks when the accident occurred.

Shelton claims she was improperly trained to use the machine, which cuts heavy cardboard used to pad furniture during shipping, and that the machine lacked a safety shield. An investigation by the Virginia Department of Labor immediately following the accident found that the machine did not have adequate safety guards and the agency fined the company $800.

But a deputy state commission ruled in May that Shelton had willfully placed herself in danger by reaching into the machine against company safety rules. It denied her lost pay and medical expenses, which she said total more than $250,000. The commission will hear Shelton's appeal in Richmond on July 21. - Staff report