The U.S. Department of Labor announced Thursday that it has reached a settlement with a Mississippi poultry processing plant after a teenage worker became caught in a machine and died last July.
Mar-Jac Poultry will pay $164,814 in fines and implement improved safety measures to protect employees from machine hazards. The agreement follows an OSHA investigation into the 16-year-old worker's death. The employee was fatally caught in a machine he was cleaning at the Hattiesburg plant in July 2023.
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Based in Gainesville, Georgia, Mar-Jac Poultry raises live birds for poultry production at facilities in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi for food service customers in the U.S. and abroad.
In addition to abating all violations cited by OSHA, Mar-Jac Poultry must add another properly trained supervisor to the sanitation shift, provide workers exposed to lockout/tagout and machine guarding hazards with updated training, and require the plant's manager and safety director to complete OSHA's 30-hour general industry training. Plant supervisors must complete OSHA's 10-hour training.
The company must also add a system for assigning, identifying, and issuing locks to authorized employees performing lockout/tagout functions and update programs and training to reflect this requirement.
As part of the settlement, Mar-Jac will also conduct a risk and hazard assessment to evaluate the safety exposures and hazards associated with current lockout/tagout procedures for the sanitation shift. The evaluation must include a review of any incidents, including near misses, injuries and unexpected start-ups or malfunctions of machinery.
Finally, the company will perform monthly lockout/tagout safety audits for the sanitation shift for one year and provide proof to OSHA, including the steps the employer takes to reduce hazards in response to the audits.
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