[caption id="attachment_7954" align="aligncenter" width="1014"]
U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh . File Photo[/caption]
A chicken plant in North Georgia and its affiliates have been fined $ 1 million by the Biden administration. They were fined for killing six workers and injuring a dozen in a nitrogen accident in January.
The U.S. Labor Department and its Occupational Safety and Health Administration agency announced 59 citations and the fines against Foundation Food Group, which runs the Gainesville plant, along with two other associated companies: Messer LLC - a nitrogen gas company, and FS Group Inc, a food processing equipment maker.
“Make no mistake, this was an entirely preventable tragedy,” Labor Secretary Marty Walsh told reporters in an Atlanta news conference on Friday (July 23, 2021).
OSHA’s investigation found that the companies failed to implement needed safety protocols to prevent the leak, the workers were not taught about the dangers of nitrogen, and they lacked the training and equipment to save lives.
Officials with Foundation Food Group, which also runs three other plants in north Georgia, did not immediately respond to inquiries from Reuters seeking comment on Saturday.
The company posted on its website, “As our community continues to heal, we extend our continued sympathies and prayers to the families and friends of those lost.”
Neither Messer nor FS Group Inc responded to requests for comment. A Messer spokesman told the Washington Post that it intends to fight the citations and fines.
“Our employees were not on site and were in no way involved with this tragic incident,” the company told the newspaper on Friday.
The accident occurred on Jan. 28 when a freezer using nitrogen as a coolant failed, Labor Department officials said at the news conference. Find more.
Source: Online/SZK
Comment Now