Skip page header and navigation

DOL settles with staffing buyer over teen worker’s death

DOL settles with staffing buyer over teen worker’s death

Katherine Alvarez
| August 21, 2024
Workplace health and safety Procedures.

Main article

The US Department of Labor reached a settlement agreement with a staffing buyer following the death of a 16-year-old contingent worker at a poultry processing plant in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The settlement requires Mar-Jac Poultry MS to pay $164,814 in fines and implement enhanced safety measures to protect their employees from machine hazards.

The agreement follows an investigation by the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration into the failure by Mar-Jac Poultry MS to use required safety procedures that would have kept the teenaged worker from being fatally caught in a machine as they cleaned it.

The incident happened on July 14, 2023, at a facility in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, CWS 3.0 reported. The contingent worker was deep cleaning the deboning area at the Mar-Jac Poultry plant when he was caught in a rotating shaft and sprockets. Investigators found lockout/tagout procedures were not used to disconnect power to the machine, according to the department, and there was no lockout/tagout device to prevent the machine from unintentionally starting.

In addition to abating all violations cited by OSHA, Mar-Jac Poultry MS must implement the following enhancements:

  • Add another properly trained supervisor to the sanitation shift.
  • Provide workers exposed to lockout/tagout and machine guarding hazards with updated training.
  • Require the plant’s manager and safety director to complete OSHA’s 30-hour general industry training and plant supervisors to complete OSHA’s 10-hour training.
  • Institute a system for assigning, identifying and issuing locks to authorized employees performing lockout/tagout functions and update programs and training to reflect this requirement.
  • Conduct a risk and hazard assessment to evaluate the safety exposures and hazards associated with current lockout/tagout procedures for the sanitation shift. The assessment must include a review of any incidents, including near misses, injuries and unexpected start-ups or malfunctions of machinery.
  • Perform monthly lockout/tagout safety audits for the sanitation shift for one year and provide proof to OSHA, including what steps the employer is taking to reduce hazards in response to the audits.

“Tragically, a teenage boy died needlessly before Mar-Jac Poultry took required steps to protect its workers,” OSHA Regional Administrator Kurt Petermeyer in Atlanta said in a press release. “This settlement demands the company commit to a safer workplace environment and take tangible actions to protect their employees from well-known hazards. Enhanced supervision and increased training can go a long way toward minimizing risks faced by workers in meat processing facilities.”

Headquartered in Gainesville, Georgia, Mar-Jac Poultry has raised live birds for poultry production since 1954 at facilities in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi.

Mar-Jac Poultry has been contacted for comment.