OSHA cites Idaho potato processor for major safety and health violations

BOISE – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration found an Idaho frozen food manufacturer failed to safeguard employees and was unprepared to respond to a potentially lethal release of 1,300 lbs. of anhydrous ammonia on Dec. 1, 2015.

While no one died or suffered injury in the December incident, other major ammonia releases at Dickinson Frozen Foods, Inc. have hospitalized employees at the Sugar City facility in the past. In its review of the latest incident, federal investigators found the company lacked adequate emergency response program and training, and failed to equip employees with protective clothing and respirators.

OSHA investigators issued 19 serious and two willful citations following the hazardous release. The agency has fined Dickinson a total of $273,000. A recent OSHA investigation after the incident uncovered dozens of hazards related to emergency response, respiratory protection and process safety management of hazardous materials violations.

“It’s a miracle no Dickinson Frozen Foods employees were killed or hurt last year,” said David Kearns, OSHA area director in Boise. “We’re confident that workers at the facility will be much better protected by tightened safety procedures the company has agreed to institute should another release occur.”

Anhydrous ammonia is a colorless gas with a distinctively pungent odor that is widely used in agricultural and industrial refrigeration systems. The ammonia vapor severely irritates and can easily damage the eyes and respiratory tract. Mixtures with certain other chemicals can produce violent reactions and explosions.   

OSHA found numerous violations during its inspection, including:

• The facility failed to maintain a “process safety management plan” that spells out a framework for any use, storage, handling or movement of highly hazardous chemicals.
• Employees exposed to liquid ammonia without chemical protective clothing.
• Employees entered a potentially life-threatening atmosphere without self-contained breathing apparatus.
• Employees were not medically evaluated or fit tested to wear respirators.
• Employees untrained on the facility’s emergency response plan when they were hired and when they changed positions.
• Employees responded to an emergency without proper emergency response training.
• The employer did not evaluate respiratory hazards during the ammonia leak response.

The citations can be viewed here.

OSHA investigators have inspected Dickinson Frozen Foods facilities several times since 2009, citing the company for serious violations of fall hazards, respiratory hazards, confined space, emergency exits and response procedures.

The Dickinson Frozen Foods facility in Sugar City employs over 220 workers, who process, clean, blanch and freeze potatoes before ultimately inspecting and shipping them for downstream distribution. The company sells processed potatoes for use in consumer items such as frozen dinners. 

The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations and proposed penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director, David Kearns or contest the finding before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. The site was inspected by staff from OSHA’s Boise Area Office.

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 Boise Area Office at 208-321-2960.