OSHA accuses chicken processer Case Farms of safety violations at Holmes County plant

Chicken processor Case Farms is facing nearly $400,000 in fines amid federal safety violations and accusations the company is failing to sufficiently protect workers from the risk of machinery accidents at its Holmes County facility in Winesburg, the U.S. Department of Labor said Wednesday.

The citations include not using required procedures to protect workers from machinery mishaps, failing to train its workers in such procedures, a lack of machine guards to protect workers from getting in contact with operating machine parts and "exposing workers to fall and electrical hazards," a Labor Department said in a news release.

The Occupational and Safety Health Administration is seeking $393,449 in fines against the company.

Case Farms' headquarters is in Troutman, North Carolina.

It has locations in Massillon and in Canton at 1925 30th St. NE, purchased from Park Farms in 2012, and 1818 County Road 160 in the area of Winesburg in Holmes County. The plant is just outside the Winesburg village limits in Paint Township. The Labor Department said Case Farms has 3,500 employees in the U.S. and 576 at its Winesburg facility.

Case Farms issued a statement Thursday afternoon disputing the citations.

"We disagree with the alleged citations and penalties published by OSHA and plan to aggressively defend our position. We disagree with OSHA's assessment that the new state-of-the-art equipment installed in Winesburg three years ago as part of a $130 million plant improvement and expansion does not contain the proper machine guarding.

Case Farms takes safety very seriously. We regularly train our team members in all aspects of safety. We conduct safety committee meetings with team members, and we welcome their ideas to improve safety. Our goal is for our team members to leave our facility the same way they arrived."

The company said it worked with an outside safety consultant approved by OSHA and spent more than $3 million in "safety related capital improvements and repairs, invested over $400,000 in the outside safety consulting firm which resulted in additional safety related programs and equipment." The company said it increased the number of members of its professional safety team from one to three at the plant to provide continuous safety training.

Case Farms said It "has reached over 3.2-million-man hours worked or 720 days without a lost time accident" and its injury rates are 87% less than the industry average.

It's not clear when the 720 days occurred.

"While the results of our commitment are evidenced by our results Case Farms will continue to invest in continuous improvements to our safety culture. Our commitment is to provide the safest work environment in our industry," Case Farm's statement said.

Related: OSHA hits Case Farms with more fines

The Labor Department said the most recent set of citations against Case Farms are the result of a follow-up inspection by OSHA inspectors at the company's Winesburg facility on Aug. 7.

The Labor Department said the violations discovered "in the facility's live-hang department ... were substantially similar to violations cited in a previous case." The department said the inspection was done as part of OSHA's Severe Violator Enforcement Program. It characterized the citations as three repeat violations, seven serious violations and four other-than-serious violations.

“Case Farms Processing again violated federal safety regulations to protect workers on the job. Returning to a facility to find similar violations identified in previous inspections, makes OSHA gravely concerned about worker safety at this facility,” OSHA Area Director Larry Johnson, based in Columbus, was quoted as saying in the statement. “Case Farms exposes its Winesburg workforce – mostly workers with limited English proficiency – to life altering injuries. The company must come into compliance immediately with the law.”

The Labor Department said OSHA has cited Case Farms 70 times since 1988 for 450 violations at its North Carolina and Ohio facilities.

"Most of those violations related to machine guarding, lockout/tagout procedures, fall and electrical hazards and processing safety management," the statement said.

Related: 61 violations at Case Farms

The department statement said Case Farms has 15 business days from the time it was notified of the citations to comply with safety regulations, seek an informal conference with OSHA's area director or dispute the findings of the inspectors before an independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com. X formerly Twitter: @rwangREP.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: OSHA alleges Case Farms committed safety violations in Holmes County