Hearthside Food Solutions, which bakes cookies and crackers for national brands, has been cited by OSHA for its third machine hazard violation in 2015.
A 41-year-old worker who was cleaning product waste from the floor at its McComb, Ohio, plant when a machine caught her helmet, resulting in severe scalp injuries and multiple lacerations and causing her to be hospitalized for four days after the July injury.
OSHA on Nov. 17 cited the company for one repeated, three serious and one other-than-serious violation for not protecting workers from machinery operating parts and proposed fees of $47,000.
“It is hard to imagine how frightened this worker must have been as the machine pulled her in by her hair. Three times this year, an employee of Hearthside Food Solutions suffered life-altering injuries because the company continues to fail to protect its workers,” said Kim Nelson, OSHA’s area director in Toledo.
“It is disheartening to cite an employer repeatedly for the same hazards.”
OSHA in April and in September cited the company after workers had fingertips amputated in accidents at the plant. The company settled the April citations contested the September citations.
Downers Grove, Ill.-based Hearthside Food Solutions is a large contract manufacturer of baked goods and bars. The company has 23 facilities in North America and Europe and employs about 6,000 workers, nearly 1,800 of whom work at the McComb plant.