Food manufacturer exposes workers to amputation hazards

Employer name: Sugar Creek Packing Co., Fairfield, Ohio

Citations received: Oct. 16, 2015

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Cincinnati Area Office cited the food processing company for one repeated and 3 serious safety violations, following a July 2015 complaint inspection.

Inspectors found employees were exposed to amputation hazards while unjamming a machine, a violation the company was cited for at its Dayton, Ohio, facility in 2013.

OSHA also found the company failed to:

• Train workers in procedures for unjamming products from machines.
• Use machine safety procedures to prevent unintentional operation during service and maintenance.
• Protect workers from fall hazards from ladders.

Quote: "Thousands of workers suffer preventable, disabling injuries each year because companies like Sugar Creek fail to follow machine safety procedures," said Ken Montgomery, OSHA's area director in Cincinnati. "It's the employer's responsibility to make sure workers aren't exposed to unnecessary risks."

Founded in 1966, Sugar Creek, operates five food processing plants in Ohio, Indiana and Kansas, with annual sales exceeding $650 million.

Proposed Penalties: $45,500.

View Citations: here.

To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint, or report amputations, eye loss, 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 or the agency's Cincinnati Area Office at 513- 841-4132.