OSHA Penalties Force Pet Food Manufacturer to Close

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OSHA Standards, Penalties, Force Illinois Pet Food Manufacturer to Shutter

Posted: October 15, 2014, 9:55 a.m. EDT

All-Feed Processing and Packaging Inc. can’t afford to pay the penalties OSHA has levied for numerous safety violations and is now closing its doors.

In May, the agency hit All-Feed with $254,000 in fines for exposing workers to combustible-dust and respiratory hazards.

"Having spent basically every penny that we have to come into compliance, there’s just nothing left for the citations, said Tim Anderson, owner of All-Feed, whose factory is located in Galva and main
office in Alpha, Ill.

The company will continue production for two or three months to fulfill existing contracts with its customers; however, the company won’t take on any new contracts, Anderson added.

All-Feed provides grinding, cleaning and packaging services to the pet-food industry, and it also offers R&D services such as granulation, dehydration, roasting and separation for new products or packaging.

OSHA inspected All-Feed’s Galva plant in November 2013, responding to a complaint. The agency cited All-Feed for one repeat and five willful violations, alleging that the plant’s high concentration of airborne dust created an explosion hazard and could cause workplace-induced asthma and other illnesses.

The November 2013 inspection was the most recent in a slew of OSHA inspections dating back to January 2011, which landed All-Feed in the agency’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program.

"All-Feed Processing and Packaging continues to demonstrate a complete disregard for the health and safety of its workers by failing to protect them from combustible dust hazards. These can ignite quickly, without warning, and can cause catastrophic damage,” said Tom Bielema, OSHA’s area director in Peoria, Ill., in May 2014. "The employees at All-Feed deserve an employer that cares about their safety, and this company keeps failing to provide that.”

The company has not laid off or terminated any of the factory’s 20 workers, but it has reduced their hours, Anderson said.

Comments

  1. Jeffrey C. NicholsOctober 16, 2014 at 9:18 AM

    Actually, employees deserved both jobs and a safe work environment. This is a small company, like many small businesses that provide jobs. Not sure how fining them out of existence helps anyone.

    ReplyDelete

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