U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration [OSHA] In January of this year, a liquid nitrogen leak occurred at a poultry factory in Georgia, resulting in the deaths of six workers. The company will impose a fine of nearly $1 million on four companies.
US Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh announced on Friday that Foundation Food Group, Packers Sanitation Service Ltd., Messer LLC and FS Group Inc. have all been classified as violations and fines.
In January of this year, a refrigeration line in the processing plant failed, sending a cloud of liquid nitrogen vapor into the work room below the floor level of the rest of the plant. The investigation found that the workers tried to escape, but some exits were blocked. Six workers died of “asphyxiation due to exposure to liquid nitrogen or due to exposure to liquid nitrogen.”
“During this inspection process, it was difficult for us to reach workers. In particular, many workers are immigrants and undocumented immigrants,” said Kurt Peter Meyer, OSHA Atlanta area administrator.
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The American Chemical Safety Commission has previously stated that the newly installed conveyor belt system that transports chicken products to the liquid nitrogen bath is malfunctioning.
According to the committee, the workers reported that the computerized measurement system showed that the liquid level in the bath was low. The board of directors stated that the malfunctioning production line was closed on the morning of the release.
Foundation Food Group has previously stated that it is “fully cooperating” with investigators, but OSHA officials said on Friday that they have issued multiple documents and testimony subpoenas to force cooperation.
They also admitted for the first time that they had Department of Homeland Security Immigration enforcement in Hall County is stopped, and there are a large number of people entering the country illegally in Georgia’s leading poultry processing center.
The victims were the 45-year-old Jose DeJesus Elias-Cabrera of Gainesville; the 35-year-old Corey Allen Murphy of Claremont ; Gainesville’s 28-year-old Nellie Perez-Raphael; 41-year-old Dawsonville’s Saulo Suarez-Bernal; 38-year-old Gainesville’s Victor Vellez (Victor Vellez) ; And Edgar Villa-Garcia of Gainesville, 28.
The families of many dead workers have filed a lawsuit against the German company Messer Group, which makes liquid nitrogen systems, and a Messer employee who visited the plant a few days before the leak to repair the system. These lawsuits allege that Messer and the workers were at fault for failing to properly inspect, test, repair, or shut down the system before the liquid nitrogen was released.
Although the fines for these four companies ranged from US$42,325 to US$595,474, OSHA’s fines and subpoenas are usually reduced after the informal and formal appeals process.
