N.C. processor hit with $27,400 ammonia fine

Raleigh, N.C.-State air quality officials have fined Mountaire Farms’ chicken processing plant in Robeson County $27,410 for an anhydrous ammonia release on June 20, 2009, that killed one employee and injured three others. The fine was in addition to a $73,325 safety violation penalty assessed last year by the North Carolina Dept. of Labor. The Division of Air Quality found Mountaire Farms lacked both a risk management program and an emergency response plan and did not provide employee training on safe handling methods. Investigators found that the risk management program had not been developed despite a fine of $4,506 assessed in March 2008. The current fine levied by the Division of Air Quality constituted the maximum for a single violation, including $25,000 for the severity of the incident and previous problems at the facility and $2,410 for costs of the investigation. The death of the maintenance worker occurred when anhydrous ammonia leaked from a ruptured high-pressure refrigerant line while workers were doing maintenance on meat-processing equipment.