This audio is generated automatically. Please let me know if you have any comments.
Diving overview:
- Ministry of Labor Dean Sausage Co.’s meat processing and packaging facility in Attala, Alabama, was found to have repeatedly ignored safety standards during inspections over the past three years, exposing employees to hazardous work conditions, the agency announced earlier this month.
- The latest citation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Dec. 3 included violations from a July 2024 inspection that found inadequate machine safety procedures, lack of employee training and missing electrical panel covers.
- Similar hazards persisted at the facility despite prior citations and fines exceeding $109,000, leading to an additional $103,245 in fines being proposed this year.
Dive Insights:
The small sausage company had three violations in July, including failing to implement and train employees on lockout and tagout procedures or provide a written hazard communication program for handling chemicals such as ammonia.
OSHA cited 2,538 violations of lockout and tagout procedures in fiscal year 2023, making it the agency’s sixth most cited standard.
Dean Sausage received a new citation for unsafe use of power and lighting facilities and exposing employees to shock and electrocution hazards, burns and hazardous chemicals, according to the agency.
In 2023, a government inspection discovered seven repeated violations and two serious violations and eventually imposed fines. $116,153 in fines Against the company.
As of the 2023 citation, Dean Sausage produces sausage and frozen biscuit sandwich products for the southern U.S. market, according to its website. The company employs 85 people at its Attalla facility.
Dean Sausage has 15 business days from Dec. 3 to respond and pay the OSHA fine. The company did not immediately respond to Manufacturing Dive for comment.
The food manufacturing industry is 61,400 cases of injuries and illnesses in 2023There were 3.6 incidents per 100 full-time employees, down from 4.6 in 2022, according to a DOL Bureau of Labor Statistics report.
Dean Sausage recently joined other manufacturers with repeated violations. In September OSHA cited Hailiang Copper Texas. $253,750 in proposed fines after two federal workplace safety investigations found unsafe working conditions at a Sealy, Texas facility.
Wisconsin pallet manufacturer in June Konz Wood Products was fined $177,453. After a 57-year-old worker was struck and killed by a timber loading machine transporter. OSHA found the company had two repeat violations for lacking lockout and tagout procedures and failing to provide fall protection for employees when working on hazardous machinery, according to a press release from the company.
