Ohio Food Processor Slapped with $1.9M Fine After Worker Loses Leg Safety standard violations repeat; plant got warning just two weeks prior
CINCINNATI – Imagine being a 29-year-old sanitation worker, just nine months into the job, and then one fateful night on the overnight shift at an Ohio food processing plant, you fall into an industrial blender you’re cleaning. The rotating paddle augers catch you, and the result is a life-changing leg amputation. That’s precisely what happened to one unfortunate worker.
After the employer reported the horrific incident on Oct. 12, 2022, the good folks at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) jumped into action. Their investigation revealed that Zwanenberg Food Group USA Inc. had failed to train sanitation workers to lock out equipment before cleaning, leaving them vulnerable to moving machinery. The kicker? OSHA had cited the plant for similar violations less than two weeks before the accident.
OSHA is now proposing a whopping $1.9 million in penalties after identifying 11 willful, four serious, one repeat, and one other-than-serious violation. Most of these involve required machine safety procedures to isolate energy and prevent movement during cleaning and maintenance. Zwanenberg got itself into OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program back in 2017.
Bill Donovan, OSHA Regional Administrator in Chicago, didn’t mince words, “This preventable, debilitating injury happened because the employer failed to train the majority of its third-shift sanitation workers to lock out equipment, ensuring their safety. It’s a tragedy that Zwanenberg was cited for similar violations two weeks prior and continued to ignore their responsibility to protect their workers.”
The investigators also discovered that Zwanenberg didn’t verify changes to lockout/tagout procedures, retrain workers when changes happened, test procedures periodically, or correct deviations. They noted trip hazards, inadequate electrical safe work procedures, and insufficient eye protection and personal protective equipment assessments.
OSHA Area Director Ken Montgomery in Cincinnati explained, “OSHA’s regional emphasis program for the food manufacturing industry addresses common hazards in these facilities. Employers can prevent injuries like this by following OSHA and industry-recognized safety standards. It’s just common sense, folks.”
OSHA cited Zwanenberg Food Group USA in 2017, and on Sept. 30, 2022, for violations of machine safety procedures and other hazards. The company has contested the latest violations, but the proof is in the pudding—or, in this case, the blender.
Cincinnati-based Zwanenberg Food Group USA, a subsidiary of Holland’s Zwanenberg Food Group, founded in 1875, operates 12 production facilities in the Netherlands, the UK, and the US. The company produces cooked ham, chili, luncheon meat, soups, stews, corned beef hash, and pastas under the Vietti, Southgate, Halal, and other private label brands. The Cincinnati facility employs about 175 workers.
The company has 15 business days from receiving the citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
Learn more about OSHA’s lockout/tagout procedures, and the Local Emphasis Program for the Food Manufacturing Industry.
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