OSHA cites agency after second temp in a yr suffers amputation

December 12, 2023

A processed meals provider was cited and faces proposed penalties of $242,197 over an incident the place a short lived employee’s finger was amputated, the US Division of Labor introduced Dec. 11. The incident occurred June 23 at a Zwanenberg Meals Group USA facility in Cincinnati. It was the second amputation since 2022 on the firm’s facility.

In the newest incident, a 29-year-old momentary employee’s finger was amputated when the employee reached right into a meat grinder’s discharge port that lacked required security guards, in response to the division.

OSHA cited Zwanenberg for 2 repeat violations: one for not having required machine guarding on the discharge port and one for failing to coach staff on the corporate’s lockout/tagout procedures.

One other 29-year-old momentary employee suffered a leg amputation after falling into an industrial blender he was cleansing on Oct. 12, 2022, in response to the division.

It’s additionally the fourth time since 2017 that OSHA inspectors have discovered that the corporate violated lockout/tagout security requirements meant to guard employees from contact with transferring machine elements, the division mentioned. The corporate was positioned in OSHA’s Extreme Violator Enforcement Program in 2017.

OSHA seen the newest incident as a part of a sample, which led the company to analyze if employees at Zwanenberg confronted imminent risks from unguarded or inadequately guarded equipment, in response to the division. Manufacturing was paused after the incident, and the corporate agreed to appropriate guarding hazards, prepare staff on machine security and implement security program enhancements. OSHA will monitor the progress.

The corporate has contested the findings. SIA has reached out to Zwanenberg for remark.

“Whereas they’ve taken a primary essential step at this plant, Zwanenberg Meals Group wants to alter their office tradition and make employee security a precedence,” OSHA Space Director Ken Montgomery mentioned in a press launch. “As an employer, they’re liable for defending their momentary employees and ensuring they’re skilled on office hazards and management measures to handle these hazards.”

In April 2023, OSHA assessed the corporate $1.9 million in proposed penalties associated to the October 2022 temp employee harm case, in response to the division. OSHA cited the plant for related violations lower than two weeks earlier than the October 2022 harm. The corporate can also be contesting each 2022 investigations.