US Department of Labor's OSHA cites Anderson Farms after worker fatally injured at cattle feed mixing facility

BOISE, Idaho — After becoming entangled in mixing equipment used for cattle feed, an Anderson Farms employee died from mass trauma in Heyburn on Feb. 11, 2014. The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated the facility after the incident and found five safety violations, including three serious.

"This terrible tragedy sadly demonstrates that a worker's life can be lost in an instant because of an employer's failure to implement required safety measures," said David Kearns, area director of OSHA's Boise office. "There are easy safeguards to ensure that workers do not get caught in live machines during servicing and maintenance, and employers have the responsibility to take protective steps."

OSHA's Boise Area Office cited Anderson Farms for three serious violations for failure to establish a lockout/tagout program and procedures to protect workers from moving machine parts during servicing and maintenance activities. The employer failed to provide hardware, such as locks, to prevent the unexpected or sudden start-up of equipment during these activities. Other violations relate to failure to follow permit-required confined space entry regulations. An OSHA violation is serious if death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard an employer knew or should have known exists.

Two other-than-serious violations were cited including the company's failure to report the death of a worker and to keep an OSHA injury and illness log. An other-than-serious violation is one that has a direct relationship to job safety and health, but probably would not cause death or serious physical harm.

Anderson Farms faces $25,200 in proposed penalties for the violations.

Anderson Farms has 15 business days from receipt of its citations to comply, request an informal conference with the OSHA area director, or contest the citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety & Health Review Commission.

According to Bureau of Labor Statistics preliminary data from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, fatal work injuries in Idaho accounted for 19 of the 4,628 reported in 2012. Visit http://bls.gov/iif/home.htm for additional details.

To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint, or report workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency's Boise Area Office at 208-321-2960.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.