Workers at IPMF LLC exposed to dangerous machine parts

Employer name: IPMF LLC operating as IPM Foods, Beloit, Wisconsin

Citations received: Oct. 30, 2015

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Madison Area Office cited the food product manufacturer for one willful, 12 serious and one other-than-serious safety violations.

The citations follow a May 2015 OSHA complaint investigation. Inspectors found the company did not use locking devices to prevent unintentional operation during service and maintenance, which exposed workers to moving machine parts, and it allowed employees to work on live electrical circuits.

OSHA also found the company failed to:

• Evaluate workplaces for confined space hazards, inform employees of the location of confined spaces, and to implement a permit-required confined space program.
• Train employees in machine safety procedures.
• Train and evaluate powered industrial truck operators.
• Provide electrical protective equipment.
• Train workers about chemicals used in the workplace.
• Record injury and illness data.

Quote: "Workers risked injury each time they serviced this equipment," said Ann Grevenkamp, OSHA's area director in Madison. "Each year hundreds of workers are injured on the job because employers like IPMF fail to train them about hazards in the workplace. The company must evaluate its health and safety program to ensure workers are protected on the job."

Proposed Penalties: $103,600

Citations: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/osha/OSHA20152078fs.pdf

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 Madison Area Office at 608-441-5388.