A Mississippi poultry processing plant has agreed to a settlement with the U.S. Division of Labor that requires it to pay $164,814 in fines and put in place enhanced security measures following the demise of a 16-year-old boy on the facility.
The settlement, introduced Friday in a information launch, comes after an investigation of Mar-Jac Poultry by the division’s Occupational Security and Well being Administration into the demise of an underaged employee who was pulled right into a machine as they cleaned it July 14, 2023.
“Tragically, a teenage boy died needlessly before Mar-Jac Poultry took required steps to protect its workers,” mentioned OSHA Regional Administrator Kurt Petermeyer in Atlanta. “This settlement demands the company commit to a safer workplace environment and take tangible actions to protect their employees from well-known hazards. Enhanced supervision and increased training can go a long way toward minimizing risks faced by workers in meat processing facilities.”
“Mar-Jac was aware of these safety problems for years and had been warned and fined by OSHA, yet did nothing. Hopefully, Mar-Jac will follow through this time so that no other worker is killed in such a senseless manner,” Jim Reeves, an lawyer for the sufferer’s household, instructed WHLT-TV.
The sufferer’s household sued Mar-Jac Poultry MS, LLC, and Onin Staffing earlier this 12 months. The lawsuit alleges that Perez was killed as a result of Mar-Jac ignoring security rules and never turning off equipment throughout sanitation. The go well with additionally claims Onin Staffing was negligent in illegally assigning the 16-year-old to work on the plant.
Headquartered in Gainesville, Georgia, Mar-Jac Poultry has raised stay birds for poultry manufacturing since 1954 at amenities in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi for meals service clients in the usand overseas, the DOL’s information launch mentioned.
A phone name Friday to the corporate searching for remark in regards to the settlement was not answered.
