OSHA cites Koch Foods after severe worker injuries

Two different worker injuries at the Koch Foods poultry processing facility in Morton, Mississippi earned the company an OSHA investigation – and nine serious safety violations.

Both incidents occurred in the spring of 2016. In March, a 42-year-old man suffered a laceration to his right finger after his glove got caught in a conveyor. In April, a 23-year-old gizzard chiller operator had two fingers on her right hand broken. The woman was attempting to unjam the gizzards inside the chiller when her hand contacted a rotating shaft.

OSHA’s investigation was part of the agency's Regional Emphasis Program for Poultry Processing Facilities.

The company was cited for failing to:

• Ensure proper procedures were followed to prevent machinery from starting-up during maintenance or servicing.
• Protect employees from falls up to 18 feet.
• Provide machine guarding on equipment.
• Provide standard railings on stairways.
• Protect workers from electric shock due to corrosive chemicals leaking on outlets.

Proposed penalties: $88,632.

Headquartered in Park Ridge, Illinois, Koch Foods of Mississippi is a subsidiary of Koch Foods Inc., a leading poultry processor with facilities in Alabama, Georgia, Ohio and Tennessee.