An Ohio food company has been fined $1.9 million and convicted of 11 willful, four serious, one repeated and one non-serious violations after the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration said its workplace safety failures led to an employee’s leg amputation.
OSHA on Thursday announced citations against Cincinnati-based Zwanenberg Food Group USA Inc., a subsidiary of Holland-based Zwanenberg Food Group BV, after inspectors said the employer failed to train sanitation workers in equipment lockout procedures before cleaning machinery.
The case followed an incident on 12 October 2022 where a temporary employee, on the job for just nine months, suffered serious injuries after falling into an industrial mixer.
While cleaning the machine, the worker̵
7;s leg became caught in the rotating paddle screws, an accident that ultimately led to the amputation of the leg.OSHA said the company was cited for similar violations just two weeks before the incident.
The company was accused of failing to verify changes to lockout/tagout procedures, failing to retrain workers when changes occurred, failing to regularly test procedures and correct deviations, and failing to issue PPE to workers.
OSHA said it placed the company in its Serious Violation Program in 2017.
The company was given 15 days to contest the citations and proposed fines. OSHA said the company already contested the latest violations.
Zwanenberg Food Group operates production facilities in the Netherlands, Great Britain and the United States
It was cited for violations of machinery safety and other hazards in 2017 and 2022.
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