OSHA investigation into amputation finds Ohio food processor again ignored safety standards
While working the overnight sanitation shift at an Ohio food processing plant, a 29-year-old temporary worker – on the job just nine months – suffered critical injuries after falling into an industrial blender he was cleaning and became caught in the rotating paddle augers. The worker’s injuries led to a leg amputation.
Responding to the employer’s report of the Oct. 12, 2022, injury, investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration determined the host employer, Zwanenberg Food Group USA Inc., did not train sanitation workers to lockout the equipment prior to cleaning, exposing them to moving machine parts. OSHA cited the plant for similar violations less than two weeks before the injury.