Amputation leads to fines at pasta firm

• OSHA found a nationwide provider of ready-made pasta, sauces and meals failed to follow workplace safety requirements to prevent workers from coming into contact with moving machine parts for the third time in five years.
• Inspectors with the agency investigating a report by Illinois-baded Rana Meal Solutions LLC that an employee suffered a finger amputation determined the incident occurred on a hot pasta sauce line at the company’s Bartlett manufacturing facility.
• At the time, the employee was trying to find a piece of a broken ball valve lodged in the system.
• OSHA cited the company for two repeat and twelve serious violations and assessed $272,792 in proposed penalties.
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Massachusetts subcontractor electrocuted at AT&T facility

• A 44-year-old Massachusetts subcontractor electrocuted inside an AT&T building near Boston died from his injuries.
• CPR was performed and the worker was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, .
• A preliminary investigation indicated that the man, a subcontractor, was working on an emergency lighting conduit when he was electrocuted, Ryan said.
• OSHA is investigating the incident.
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3M cited for fatal injuries

• One of the world’s best-known manufacturing companies could have prevented an employee at a southwestern Wisconsin manufacturing plant from suffering fatal injuries after becoming caught in a machine’s rotating rollers by following federal workplace safety regulations.
• OSHA determined the 3M Company violated federal regulations for the control of hazardous energy during set-up, servicing, and operation of the machine.
• The incident followed the company’s assessment of equipment at its U.S. and Canadian plants in May 2022 after a fatality at a 3M facility in Alexandria, Minnesota, in February 2022.
• OSHA cited the company for two willful safety violations and assessed $312,518 in proposed penalties.
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Chemical plant explosion in Texas injures worker, requires shelter

• A massive fire at a chemical plant in rural Texas sent a plume of black smoke into the sky as officials closed down a local highway and ordered residents to take shelter for several hours.
• Authorities had asked residents within a one-mile radius of a chemical plant fire in Shepherd as well as those in surrounding communities to shelter in place for about five hours and lifted the order.
• A preliminary investigation by safety found the explosion happened when an employee noticed a container leaking with chemicals and tried to use a forklift to lift the container, after which there was an ignition.
• The investigation was still ongoing.
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