OSHA finds Tyson employees exposed to occupational noise, other hazards at two Holcomb, Kansas, facilities

Employer name: Tyson Fresh Meats Inc.
Tyson Fresh Meats Inc. a division doing business as Tyson Hides and Tannery
Holcomb, Kansas

Citations issued: July 29, 2016

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Wichita Area Office cited Tyson Fresh Meats Inc. and Tyson Hides and Tannery for a total of two repeated, five serious, and one other than serious safety and health violations.

The inspections at the two adjacent facilities in Holcomb in February 2016 found the company failed to follow OSHA’s standards for occupational noise exposure including:

• Conducting noise sampling.
• Implementing engineering controls to reduce exposure.
• Evaluating employee’s noise exposure when audiometric testing shows a threshold shift.
• Conducting baseline audiograms.
• Providing training for workers.
• Ensuring proper recordkeeping.

OSHA also found the company failed to:

• Install adequate machine guards around rotating shafts
• Provide eye wash stations.
• Mark exit routes.

Quote: “Exposure to occupational noise hazards can result in permanent hearing loss and greatly impact a worker’s quality of life,” said Judy Freeman, OSHA’s area director in Wichita. “Employers like Tyson have a responsibility to follow federal guidelines to protect the safety and health of their workers on the job.”

Proposed Penalties:  $85,500

View health citations issued to Tyson Fresh Meats and safety and health citations issued to Tyson Hides and Tannery.

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 Wichita Area Office at 316-269-6644.