OSHA cites Koch Foods of Mississippi after severe worker injuries

Employer name: Koch Foods of Mississippi LLC

Inspection site: 108 Morris Tullos Drive
Morton, Mississippi 39117    

Citations issued: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued citations to the poultry processing producer on Sept. 16, 2016, for nine serious safety violations.

Investigation findings: OSHA initiated two investigations after learning two workers suffered injuries in the spring of 2016. In March, a 42-year-old man suffered a laceration to his right finger after his glove got caught in a conveyor. In April, a 23-year-old gizzard chiller operator had two fingers on her right hand broken. The woman was attempting to unjam the gizzards inside the chiller when her hand contacted a rotating shaft. The investigation is also part of the agency’s Regional Emphasis Program for Poultry Processing Facilities.

OSHA issued the serious citations to the employer for its failure to:

• Ensure proper procedures were followed to prevent machinery from starting-up during maintenance or servicing.
• Protect employees from falls up to 18 feet.
• Provide machine guarding on equipment.
• Provide standard railings on stairways.
• Protect workers from electric shock due to corrosive chemicals leaking on outlets.

Proposed penalties: $88,632

Quote: “Koch Foods must review its safety procedures to ensure workers are protected from all safety and health hazards to include machinery unexpectedly starting up, falls and electric shock,” said Eugene Stewart, OSHA’s area director in the Jackson Office. “It is the employer’s responsibility to protect employees in the workplace.”

The citations can be viewed at:

• https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/legacy-files/newsroom/newsreleases/OSHA20161864a.pdf
• https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/legacy-files/newsroom/newsreleases/OSHA20161864b.pdf

Headquartered in Park Ridge, Illinois, Koch Foods of Mississippi is a subsidiary of Koch Foods Inc., a leading poultry processor with facilities in Alabama, Georgia, Ohio and Tennessee. The employer has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, request a conference with OSHA’s area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

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 Jackson Area Office at 601-965-4606.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to ensure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.