Baking company fined after worker asphyxiated
The Occupational Safety and Health Admini-stration in Washington, DC, cited European Bakers and proposed fines totaling $119,700 following a fatal accident at the company’s Tucker, GA, facility.
According to Ray Finney, OSHA’s Atlanta-East area director, the accident occurred on Feb. 10, 2000, when an employee climbed an 8-foot portable ladder to inspect a machine while it was running. The employee’s arm was caught in the machine’s conveyor system, and he was dragged into a pinch point created by the conveyor moving past a fixed structural support. The worker died of asphyxiation caused by chest compression.
Following inspection of the Tucker plant, OSHA cited the company for 18 serious violations with proposed penalties totaling $70,200. Included was a citation for failing to guard the conveyor to protect workers from moving parts. Improper use of ladders, poor housekeeping, and electrical hazards were also cited as serious violations.
One willful violation drew a $49,500 penalty for machine-guarding deficiencies. In an area of the plant separate from the accident site, plexiglass panel guards on a proofer machine were pushed aside to allow workers to remove by hand excess dough that falls into the machine. This practice exposed employees to amputation hazards at the unguarded chains and sprockets.
"This company was aware that its employees were not protected from moving machine parts," Finney says. "The plexiglass panel guards that were removed from an overhead proofer placed the workers at risk of serious injury. Our experience indicates that an effective safety and health program that has management commitment, supervisory accountability, and employee participation will significantly reduce the type of fatal accident that occurred in this instance."
A willful violation is one committed with an intentional disregard of, or plain indifference to, the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and regulations. OSHA defines a serious violation as one in which there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result and that the employer knew or should have known of the hazard.
European Bakers, a subsidiary of Mrs. Smith’s Bakery, which is a division of Flowers Industries, employs approximately 250 workers who produce bread and other bakery products at the Tucker location. The company can contest the citations.
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