Former LM Wind Power employee speaks out following COVID-19 outbreak

A former LM Wind Power employee is speaking out following the COVID-19 outbreak at the Grand Forks factory, which builds rotor blades for wind turbines across the country.

Larissa Bouschee, who no longer works at the factory, tells WZFG News, in an exclusive interview, that the plant, which employs nearly 900 workers, “was not following CDC guidelines or recommendations.”

She says that she contacted the City of Grand Forks, and then, on March 26, filed a complaint with the Bismarck office of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. She says OSHA had instructed LW Wind Power officials to post notices regarding an investigation that was underway, but Bouschee says she never saw those notices posted in the plant.

“Nobody quickly responded,” she says of company, local and OSHA officials. “They (LM) do not care about their employees.”

Bouschee also says that the plant never had plans of closing, saying that one of the executives said, “We will not be closing.”

She feels the whole situation was handled wrong.

“Health handed it off to the mayor, the mayor handed it to economic development and economic development conducted a phone call,” she says.