OSHA Fines Birdsong Over Worker Death

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2010/01/osha-fines-birdsong-over-worker-death/

Lawsuits & Litigation
OSHA Fines Birdsong Over Worker Death
by Dan Flynn | Jan 09, 2010

Howard Thompson was a cold storage worker at Birdsong Peanuts in Blakely, GA last Sept. 28 when he was caught in a conveyor belt, injured critically, and died the same night.

Thompson, 23, was taken from the cold storage warehouse on Bay Street in Blakely by ground and air ambulance to hospitals in Dothan, AL and Birmingham, where he died.

In a statement after his death, Birdsong said Thompson "was a good worker and will be missed."

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was already investigating Birdsong for safety violations before the Blakely death. After investigating the fatality, OSHA this week announced finding 41 safety and health violations at the Birdsong facilities in Sylvester and Blakely.

Blakely is the peanut industry-dominated town in southwest Georgia near the Alabama border where the now defunct Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) was located. PCA was responsible for the 2008-09 nationwide Salmonella outbreak that killed nine people and sickened hundreds of others.


"Our inspections, and a worker fatality at the Blakely plant, show the need for management to get serious about the safety and health of its employees," said Robert Vazzi, OSHA's area director in Savannah.




FULL story at link.