Day-Old Bread? No. Year-Old Hazards? Yes.

A New Jersey commercial bakery that manufactures and sells baked goods to wholesale retailers throughout the state, is now facing $385,221 in federal OSHA penalties.
Patterson’s Valenti’s Bakery was cited after it failed to correct workplace safety hazards initially identified in 2023, the department reported.
That followed an inspection after an employee suffered two partial finger amputations because of contact with an automatic blade.
During the follow-up investigation in May, OSHA found that the employer failed to develop, document and use lockout/tagout procedures for the control of hazardous mechanical energy. As a result, the agency issued a notification of failure to abate. Two willful citations for blocked and obstructed exit routes, one repeat citation for machine guarding, and six serious citations for exposure to fall hazards from a ladder and unprotected side and edges were also issued.
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The nonfatal workplace injury and illness rate for North Carolina’s private industry remained at a historic low level for 2023 with a rate of 2.0 cases per 100 full-time workers, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
The national rate is 2.4.
The data from the BLS’s Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses accounts for growth and contraction in total hours worked in industry, which is an important factor in a state like North Carolina that has experienced significant growth.
The 2023 rate for North Carolina’s local government and state government sectors, along with private industry construction, did not significantly change between 2022 and 2023.
In North Carolina, the 2023 rate for private industry manufacturing did have a statistically significant change from 2.6 to 2.4.
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Nearly two dozen Re-Entry Program participants at Tennessee’s Rutherford County Adult Detention Center received a 10-hour OSHA training provided by the Tennessee College of Applied Technology and earned Labor Department-issued cards proving they are trained in work-place safety.
The Re-Entry program, part of the county’s Recovery Courts, partners with organizations to provide in-demand vocational training for formerly incarcerated individuals at Rutherford County’s Adult Detention and Correctional Work Center.
“They were able to learn how to identify existing and potential hazards in the workplace and how to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate and/or mitigate said hazards,” said Sgt. Brian Layhew, assistant facility coordinator at the center.
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