State opens investigation into Smurfit Westrock fall
Although the Smurfit Westrock plant uses white liquor, the material involved in last month's deadly chemical spill at nearby Nippon Dynawave Packaging, the incident this week involved a tank that typically gets filled with water and pulp to create a slurry.
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The hydrapulper was not in service at the time the contract worker fell late Wednesday afternoon, according to a release issued by the Association of Western Pulp and Paperworkers issued Thursday morning.
Hydrapulpers are used to convert recovered paper and other fibrous materials into pulp, according to Robby Johnson, Smurfit Westrock's North American director of external communications.
According to the AWPPW, preliminary information is that the worker fell during scheduled maintenance of its No. 5 paper machine. The equipment had been removed from service, cleared of the materials it processed and was isolated through established lockout-tagout protocols at the time of the fall.
When reached for comment Thursday, Washington State Department of Labor & Industries Public Affairs Manager Matt Ross confirmed that the agency opened an inspection at the site after the worker was hospitalized after a fall.
By state law, the investigation must be completed within 180 days. The same law applies to the investigation into the May 26 Nippon Dynawave tank collapse.
WestRock
Steam clouds fill the air above Westrock along the Columbia River in February 2020.
L&I only discusses its findings once its investigations are complete.
Smurfit Westrock plant workers are represented by the AWPPW, although the contract worker who fell was not a member of the union's bargaining unit, according to the AWPPW release.
The union, however, states that it is cooperating with L&I, the company and "all appropriate authorities" as the investigation progresses.
Wastewater permit information on the Washington State Department of Ecology website shows the plant at 300 Fibre Way operates five different machines at different times depending on market conditions. The mill uses the paper machines to create different products that meet customer specifications.
The mill's history
The mill now known as Smurfit Westrock's Longview paper mill was among the largest in the world producing unbleached paper and containerboard, according to a 2016 fact sheet.
It dates back to 1927, where it was founded as Longview Fibre. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, the mill has gone by multiple names over the last two and a half decades.
After decades of local ownership, Longview Fibre sold to Toronto, Canada-based Brookfield Asset Management in 2007. In 2014, Illinois-based KapStone Paper and Packaging company acquired it and changed the paper mill's name for the first of multiple times.
Atlanta-based WestRock merged with KapStone in 2019. WestRock then merged with Ireland-based Smurfit Kappa in 2023, leading to the mill's current incarnation as Smurfit Westrock.
The plant employs about 1,000 employees, makes about 3,600 tons of paper and corrugated paper products along with 2,800 tons of unbleached paper pulp daily, according to the Department of Ecology.
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This story was originally published June 12, 2026 at 6:23 PM.