JANESVILLE OSHA has fined Janesville pet food maker NaturPak $363,000 in a series of repeated explosions earlier this year that burned and killed three workers with pressurized steam from cookers that the federal safety agency says were designed and operated improperly.
The federal workplace safety regulator released details of its findings, including a series of fines against NaturPak on Friday, saying the companys pet-food processing plant at 100 Innovation Drive in Janesville earned a serious citation over its design and use of pressurized steam cooking kettles.
OSHA said the kettles had lids that said blew open unexpectedly burning workers fatally. In one of the explosions, a worker got hit in the head with an object, an injury which gave that worker a concussion, OSHA said.
OSHA also cited NaturPak with repeat citations for exposing workers to falls to lower levels of buildings. Thats alongside a series of other-than-serious citations after OSHA determined through two separate investigations at the plant that NaturPak had failed to notify employees who were working adjacent to permit-required confined spaces.
That means OSHA deemed areas it investigated at NaturPak as being difficult for workers to easily escape in an emergency and the agency determined NaturPak had not done enough to alert workers of the conditions at the plant.
OSHA describes the deadly explosions, which happened on two different dates in February and March, as coming after clogged vents designed to release pressure from cooking kettles caused a backup of pressure, and led to covers on the cooking kettles releasing steam, liquid, and organic material onto ... employees nearby.
In addition to citations over workplace hazards and unsafe equipment, OSHA said Friday it also issued serious citations to NaturPak for exposing workers to thermal hazards without quick access to emergency water, as well as citations for exposing workers to falls into kettles, and for failure to assess personal, protective equipment for thermal risks.
Thats in addition to repeat citations OSHA issued for NaturPak failing to develop, keep record of, and properly train workers in proper lockout/tagout procedures for the cooking kettles that exploded.
The parent company of NaturPak, IPM Foods, has 15 business days from its receipt of the OSHA citations and penalties to comply, request a conference with OSHA, or to register to contest the findings and fines.
OSHA officials previously told The 69蹤獲 that NaturPak worked with OSHA earlier this year to correct equipment problems, work that came during a shutdown of the plant area where the injuries and deaths occurred.
Months ago, OSHA told The 69蹤獲 that NaturPak had reworked parts of the plant to an extent that OSHA allowed normal plant operations to resume.
OSHA records show no new violations or complaints at NaturPak since the initial investigations of the deadly explosions in February and March.