Federal occupational safety officials suggest nearly $ 1 million fines on four companies after a liquid nitrogen leak in January that killed six workers at a Georgia poultry processing plant.
US Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh announced on Friday subpoenas and fines from the US Department of Occupational Health and Safety.
“Make no mistake, this was a very preventable tragedy,” Walsh told reporters.
He said the penalties imposed in the case were “relatively high, but not enough”. He said many companies are simply writing off OSHA fines as “costs of doing business” and urged Congress to increase them.
“These employers put profit above safety,” said Walsh.
The Foundation Food Group owns the facility in Gainesville, northeast of Atlanta. It was charged with 26 violations with a proposed fine of USD 595,474. Packers Sanitation Services Ltd., which provided cleaning services, was charged with 19 violations with a proposed fine of $ 286,720. Messer LLC, which made the freezing system, has been charged with six violations and faces a proposed $ 74,118 fine. FS Group Inc, which helped build the line, was charged with eight violations with a proposed fine of $ 42,325.
OSHA fines and subpoenas are often lowered after appeals. Companies that are fined have 15 days to appeal. Foundation Food has challenged a $ 54,000 fine imposed in June after an employee of another management suffered an amputation in December.
Foundation Food did not respond to a phone call or email requesting comments.
Six workers choked on liquid nitrogen, including 45-year-old Jose DeJesus Elias-Cabrera of Gainesville; 35 year old Corey Alan Murphy of Clermont; 28-year-old Nelly Perez-Rafael from Gainesville; 41-year-old Saulo Suarez-Bernal from Dawsonville; 38-year-old Victor Vellez of Gainesville; and 28 year old Edgar Vera-Garcia from Gainesville. 12 other employees were injured, according to OSHA. Some were hospitalized.
The plant takes slaughtered chickens elsewhere, cooks patties and nuggets, and freezes them for shipping.
A new freeze line failed on January 28, releasing a cloud of liquid nitrogen vapor. The workers tried to flee, but found some exits blocked or blocked, the investigation revealed.
The company stated in court records that the only safety device on the freezer was damaged and that there was no backup system to prevent a “catastrophic” overflow.
Workers reported that a computerized measurement system indicated a low level in the immersion bath, according to the US Chemical Safety Board.
Three workers were trying to fix the freezer when nitrogen filled the room, which is at a lower level than the adjacent areas, making the heavier-than-air gas unlikely to spread. These three died, as did three others who tried to save them.
OSHA Atlanta regional administrator Kurt Petermeyer said Foundation Food and the other companies have failed to implement any of the safety procedures required to prevent the nitrogen leak and provide the workers who respond to it with the knowledge and equipment that could have saved their lives. ” Petermeyer also said Foundation Food managers have shown “indifference” to safety regulations by leaving a position as safety manager vacant from April 2019 to December 2020 and not entrusting any other person with these duties .
Shelly Anand, an immigration rights attorney for the Atlanta-based non-profit Sur Legal Collaborative, said OSHA could not reference any federal law enforcement quotes published Thursday.
“I honestly think the agency did everything it could legally do to impose penalties or consequences on the company,” said Anand.
OSHA officials said Friday that they issued multiple subpoenas for documents and testimony to force the Foundation Food Group to work together. The company is fighting an attempt by OSHA in federal court to serve an arrest warrant related to an ammonia odor reported in March and an impending danger lawsuit filed by employee advocates. Foundation Food argues that OSHA has no likely reason for an inspection just because workers said they smelled ammonia. A recommendation to allow OSHA inspections awaits a federal judge’s decision.
“FFG has cooperated fully and voluntarily except when OSHA has tried to expand its investigation for no probable reason,” Foundation Food Group attorney Dane Steffenson wrote in April, saying the company has volunteered a thousand pages of documents since January Allows dozens of inspections.
OSHA first admitted on Friday that agency officials asked the Department of Homeland Security to temporarily suspend immigration enforcement in Gainesville. It is the center of Georgia’s leading poultry industry, and processing plants are often occupied by people who have entered the country illegally.
“During this inspection, we had difficulty reaching the workers,” said Petermeyer. “Many of the workers are immigrants, undocumented immigrants.” Families of several dead workers are suing the German company Messer and a Messer employee who maintained the system.
The spokeswoman Amy Ficon wrote in an email that Messer “has an obligation to learn from the investigation into this tragic incident and to do its part to ensure that it does not happen again”. Messer declined to comment on quotations. Ficon said Messer teaches customers to use and maintain equipment safely and advises customers to use air monitors and personal oxygen detectors for individual workers.
(This story was not edited by Devdiscourse staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
