Chicago Workers' Compensation Attorney Blog

The U.S. Department of Labor has slapped another Illinois company for work hazards and safety violations in the workplace. Cook County workers' compensation lawyers are seeing more and more cases of companies that ignore employees' rights and neglect to take safety precautions that could prevent an injury or fatal accident.

The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) recently announced that All-Feed Processing and Packing Inc. has been cited for more than 20 health and safety violations at its Galva facility. There were several willful violations related to OSHA's hearing conservation, respiratory protection and air contaminant standards.

A previous 2009 dust explosion and fire accident at this Illinois work site shows a blatant disregard for employee safety, which is why OSHA has slapped the company for fines in excess of three-quarters of a million dollars. OSHA found the following violations of worker safety which resulted in a penalty citation.

Serious Safety Violation:
One penalty of $3,850 was issued for not being able to provide written certification that hazards had been eliminated in a permit-required confined space. The hazardous conditions present in the confined space pose a high probability that a worker could be seriously injured, physically harmed or die from the hazard.

Repeat Violations:
Three repeat safety violations were cited at All-Feed Processing & Packaging Inc. The company had previously been cited in 2009 for the same or similar hazards and failed to make corrections. The company failed to train and evaluate industrial truck operators for their skills, lifting devices failed to display the load rating, and no danger signs were posted for employees working in potentially hazardous conditions or work spaces.

One repeat health violation was issued for failing to post instructions for safety precautions when combustible dust was present.

The penalty for repeat safety and health violations totaled $50,050.

Single-Instance Willful Violations:
Four violations were cited: requiring employees to work in areas where excessive amounts of dust exist (over the permissible limits set forth by OSHA standards) and no engineering controls were established for employees that had been exposed; employees exposed to excessive noise were not provided with an effective hearing conservation program; employees were not instructed on safe use, installation and wiring of equipment in unsafe locations; and liquid propane-powered trucks were permitted to enter areas where combustible dust could be ignited.

Per-Instance Willful Violations:
Nine violations were handed to the company for not mandating that six employees exposed to excessive dust use respirators or failing to protect three dust-collection units that had an accumulation of starch, cellulose fiber, potato base and pea protein, all of which can cause a fire or explosion.

The thirteen total willful violations produced penalties adding up to $700,700.

It is important to note that since 2000, All-Feed Processing & Packaging Inc. has been inspected by OSHA investigators 10 times. On five of those occasions, the company was cited in previous inspections for 17 willful, five repeat, 44 serious, and 10 other-than-serious violations.