OSHA cites nation's largest cookie and cracker manufacturer after machine takes part of worker's finger

Employer name: Hearthside Food Solutions LLC, McComb, Ohio

Citations issued: Sept. 21, 2015

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Toledo Area Office cited the McComb facility, which produces cookies and crackers for national brands for one repeated and two serious safety violations.

The citations follow an OSHA investigation opened after a 55-year-old worker lost part of his right middle finger while unjamming a dough-cutting machine. Inspectors found the machine lacked adequate guarding to protect him from dangerous moving parts. Hearthside Food Solutions was cited for a similar violation at the same facility in 2010, resulting in the issuance of one repeated violation. OSHA also issued two serious violations for failing to turn off the machine during maintenance and not training employees on safety procedures to prevent exposure to operating parts.

Quote: "This worker suffered the permanent loss of part of his finger because his employer of three years failed to follow basic safety procedures," said Kim Nelson, OSHA's area director in Toledo. "It is disheartening to cite an employer repeatedly for hazards they know are exposing workers to life-altering injuries like this."

Proposed Penalties: $52,500.

View Citations: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/osha/OSHA20151769fs.pdf

Based in Downers Grove, Illinois, Hearthside Food Solutions LLC is the food industry's largest contract manufacturer of baked goods and bars. With 23 facilities in North America and Europe the company employs about 6,000 workers, nearly 1,800 of them at the McComb plant.

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 Toledo Area Office at 419-259-7542.