In November 2022, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) issued a warning to workers in Illinois’ food production industry of a dangerously high risk of being hurt on the job much greater than those employed in other manufacturing industries, not only in Illinois but across the country. For details, read the OSHA news release published November 9, 2022.
The dangers are real: OSHA found that Illinois’ food processing workers had a 29% higher rate of amputation due to an on-the-job injury than other industrial workers. See: OSHA Warns of Accident Dangers in Illinois’ Food Processing Industry.
OSHA warnings of dangers for Illinois industrial workers continued this month, with several OSHA news releases detailing citations given to Illinois employers for placing workers at risk of catastrophic injury or death on the job. Among them were employers who had already been cited by the federal safety agency for past wrongs in keeping workers safe.
Illinois companies, explained OSHA, having not only been (1) educated on how to keep people safe but (2) inspected and found in breach of duties of care are (3) still disrespecting and disregarding worker safety.
Callous and cavalier attitudes by employers can only lead to more serious or fatal work accidents in the State of Illinois. Read, Illinois Worker Warnings of Deadly Risks on the Job in Recent OSHA Citations.
Illinois Manufacturer Cited $2.8 Million Penalty for Failure to Protect Worker
Things just seem to be getting more and more dangerous for all industrial workers in the State of Illinois. Earlier this week, OSHA confirmed a jaw-dropping $2,800,000 in penalties against an Illinois pizza manufacturer after the death of a temporary worker was attributed to the employer’s failures in their legal duties of care and safety.
On June 15, 2023, OSHA issued its news release confirming Miracapo Pizza Company (also doing business as Little Lady Foods) and a staffing company providing workers to the manufacturer, XCEL Staffing Solutions LLC, failed to keep a 28-year-old sanitation worker safe on the job as she worked the overnight shift at the food manufacturer’s Gurnee, Illinois, sheeting facility.
The tragic death of the young female temporary worker happened last November. The findings of OSHA inspectors found that the work accident victim was diligently on task and cleaning a spiral conveyer when the accident occurred.
OSHA explained that no one trained any of the temporary workers that equipment must be stopped from moving before cleaning is done. As the woman was using compressed air to clean the conveyer, dirty from moving hot pizza along the conveyer to cool it, “…her head became caught in the machinery.”
In the same release, OSHA pointed out that this horrific on-the-job fatality was the third severe worker accident suffered by an employee of this company involving machine guarding or lockout-tagout safety concerns. OSHA confirmed “[t]he tragedy occurred just weeks after a November 2022 incident at the same facility in which a worker performing maintenance on a sauce depositor suffered an amputation, which led OSHA to assess Miracapo $290,191 in proposed penalties. In October 2021, another employee suffered the amputation of a fingertip while trying to clear a jammed pizza conveyor.”
From OSHA Assistant Secretary Doug Parker:
“This tragedy took the life of a young woman, and forever changes the lives of her family, friends and co-workers. Safety standards are put in place to prevent these kinds of tragedies. Employers have a responsibility to train workers in the language they understand so they know how to perform their work safely.”
OSHA has cited Miracapo Pizza Company aka Little Lady Foods for 16 willful egregious violations, the agency’s most severe; one willful violation; and 12 serious violations, including five serious instance-by-instance violations of two standards on different machines. OSHA has issued $2,812,658 in penalties. The company is now a part of OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program.
OSHA also cited GDI Services Inc., the sanitation services contractor, for two willful and two serious violations for failing to lock out equipment while cleaning food processing machines, failing to train workers in a language they understand on safety procedures, not providing hardware necessary to lockout or tagout equipment, and failing to provide effective information and training regarding hazardous chemicals.
- For more, read “Temporary Worker Fatally Injured, OSHA Proposes $2.8M in Penalties for Illinois Pizza Manufacturer,” written by Alex Saurman and published by OHS Online on June 16, 2023.
Top Ten OSHA Most Common Violations Involve Machine Guarding and LOTO Procedures
In the latest OSHA Top Ten List of the safety regulations most often ignored or violated by employers in this country, (1) lockout/tagout (“LOTO”) procedures and (2) machine guarding, ranked sixth and tenth on the 2022 tally.
1. Machine Guards Protect Against Severe Bodily Injury, Amputations, and Death
Regardless of the Illinois industry involved, the industrial worker will likely be asked to work with machines with moving parts. They vary in size, power, and complexity. Industrial machines with moving parts can be anything from large conveyor belts to table saws or power tools. Many of these machines have been designed, developed, and placed on the worksite to meet specific needs of that industry or employer (as for example, the spiral conveyor used to cool pizzas in the tragic Illinois worker fatality cited this month.)
Any industrial machine with moving parts has the capability to harm a human being, from a cut or crushed hand to minor burns, electrocution, crushing injuries, or traumatic amputation. Accordingly, there are federal safety regulations and industry standards in place to protect workers who are exposed to these types of risks. These machines should have guards to protect workers against harm.
See, e.g., 29 CFR §1910.212 – General requirements for all machines. Also, read: Machine Guarding: Serious Industrial Work Accidents Caused by Moving Machine Parts.
2. Lockout Tagout Systems Prevent Work Accidents and Save Lives
Illinois industrial workers in food manufacturing, as well as construction, railroading, warehousing, maritime, and agri-business all deserve to have proper lockout and tagout (“LOTO”) safety systems in place at their job.
LOTO systems are industry-specific. They are planned for the particular needs of the industrial worksite and all of its varied machinery. LOTO procedures are to be used with any piece of machinery or equipment that is powered by any kind of power source (electrical; thermal; chemical; etc.).
Workers should expect a “lockout” when the energy source to the piece of machinery or equipment that needs to be serviced, replaced, or repaired is disengaged. A “tagout” happens when it is not possible to turn off the power; here things are done like warning lights attached to the machine along with various signs, flags, and more on the site advising anyone in proximity of the danger zone to stay clear of the area.
Any Illinois industrial machine that needs to be cleaned; inspected; maintained; repaired; or replaced should have a corresponding LOTO safety protocol at the ready that has been established by the employer. See, 29 C.F.R. 1910.147.
Workers should be able to rely on the powers-that-be (1) to train them on LOTO dangers and (2) to have current and effective LOTO safety systems for the workplace.
Justice for Workers Hurt or Killed in Illinois Industrial Accidents
The concern of safety agencies and those advocating for worker victims and their loved ones is escalating almost daily at this point for all those working in industrial worksites in the State of Illinois.
Illinois employers are being shown by OSHA to have been investigated for their failure to comply with legal standards and breaching their duty of care and safety, and to still continue in disregard of worker safety and disrespect for established safety regulations and industrial protocols. Meanwhile, OSHA reports warn us all that very hazardous working conditions exist here and that employees are going to work each day facing uncertain injury risks.
For Illinois work accident victims and their loved ones, they need to know there is a legal right to independently investigate the incident to determine if safety regulations or industrial safety standards have been violated, causing the accident to happen. This includes failure to follow known machine guarding protections as well as having LOTO systems in place and operational.
The fact that machine guarding LOTO standards are two of the OSHA Top Ten Most Common Safety Violations in this country means that employers continue to endanger their workers. Workers’ compensation, wrongful death, and possible civil third-party claims against the landowner; or the manufacturer, designer, or installer of the machinery or equipment involved in the incident may be possible avenues for justice to those who have been wrongfully hurt or killed on the job.
For more on workers’ compensation, third party, and wrongful death claims, read:
- Job Site Injury in Illinois or Indiana: When Accidents at Work Are Not Worker’s Compensation Claims
- Industrial Accidents in Indiana and Illinois: Serious Injury or Death on the Job.
Workers on Illinois industrial worksites deserve better. Industrial worksites are inherently dangerous, but having companies failing to do everything possible to keep workers, especially temporary workers or contracting workers, safe from harm is infuriatingly unacceptable. OSHA keeps confirming Illinois employers are failing to meet their safety duties. Please be careful out there!
