OSHA fines APF for 2013 auger accident

Washington — The Occupational Safety and Health Association (OSHA) reported on May 5 that it has cited American Plant Food Corp. (APF), Galena Park, Tex., for 12 health and safety violations and proposed a penalty of $181,000 for “exposing employees to workplace hazards by failing to implement proper energy control procedures that protect workers who service or maintain machines.” OSHA said its investigation was prompted by a November 2013 accident at APF’s Bartlett, Tex., facility where a worker’s leg became entangled in an auger. “This worker’s debilitating injury was preventable had the employer used certain safeguards,” said Casey Perkins, OSHA’s area director in Austin. “As an established company in this industry with long-term management in place, American Plant Food Corp. should not allow such dangerous workplace practices.” OSHA said nine of the violations were labeled as serious, including failure to properly guard machines, electrical equipment, and floor openings; implement lockout procedures for hazardous energy control; or provide access to first aid. OSHA also reported willful violations, which are defined as those committed with “intentional, knowing, or voluntary disregard for the law’s requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health.” These included failure to ensure that adequate safeguards were in place to prevent workers from coming into contact with the auger during servicing and maintenance. OSHA said its investigation also determined that APF did not provide adequate training for workers entering confined spaces and encountering industrial machinery that could unexpectedly startup. APF has 15 business days to comply with or contest the citations, or request an informal conference with OSHA’s Austin area office. OSHA said in its ruling that APF “has a history of OSHA inspections, including two fatality investigations in December 1991 and June 1997, and an inspection of a Fort Worth facility in 2000 where citations were issued related to the control of hazardous energy.” OSHA noted as well that APF employs about 88 workers at 11 facilities in Texas, and that two of the workers exposed at the Bartlett plant had been hired as temporary workers in 2011.