Mississippi cookie factory cited after death of worker

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has proposed 19 serious and four other-than-serious safety violations with $55,100 in penalties against DeBeukelaer Corporation following an investigation prompted by the death of an employee at the company's Gluckstadt, Miss., bakery in June.

"Employers must consider relevant dangers and implement OSHA's recognized safety standards when setting up their production lines so that tragedies such as this will not occur," said Clyde Payne, director of OSHA's Jackson Area office.

The employee died after being caught and pulled into a powered conveyor drive roller.

OSHA inspectors found that the company failed to provide appropriate machine guards on the production line and did not install or place the proper number of emergency stops along the powered conveyor system. There were no specific procedures for lockout/tagout to prevent machinery from functioning while employees performed maintenance. Forklift operators were not properly trained. The company did not maintain its required OSHA log of work-related injuries and illnesses.

The company has 15 working days to contest the citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.