An Alabama processor of spices has been fined $121,511 by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration for safety violations that the agency said left workers “exposed to amputation, struck-by, crushed-by and electrical hazards.”
iSpice LLC, based in Jackson, Ala., was cited for failure to use lockout/tagout procedures to secure mixers before workers started cleaning the interior; for not having machine guarding to protect workers from the mixer’s moving parts; for using industrial trucks with damaged seatbelts; for having electrical outlets and boxes that were uncovered or lacked faceplates, and for other alleged violations.
“This employer put their employees at serious risk needlessly by failing to provide training and implement well-known protections,” OSHA Area Director Jose Gonzalez in Mobile, Ala., said in a statement. “These protections are not optional, they are every worker’s right.”
The sanctions were announced April 23. iSpice has 15 days from then to correct the alleged violations or contest OSHA’s findings.
