Temp worker falls in industrial blender at Ohio plant and leg is amputated, feds say

A food processing plant in Ohio has been cited after federal officials said the employer’s inaction led to severe injuries to a temporary worker.

The 29-year-old worker at Zwanenberg Food Group was cleaning an industrial blender Oct. 12, 2022, when he fell inside the machine. A news release from the U.S. Department of Labor said he “became caught in the rotating paddle augers,” and his leg had to be amputated due to his injuries.

An investigation from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration determined the employer did not properly train its sanitation workers. By not training workers to lock the equipment before cleaning, it exposed the workers to the moving machinery parts, OSHA said.

Fines of $1.9 million have been proposed to Zwanenberg Food Group, which is based out of Cincinnati. It was cited for “11 willful, four serious, one repeat and one other-than-serious violations,” officials said.

In a statement to WCPO, the employer “strongly and unequivocally disagree(d)“ with some of OSHA’s findings and descriptions of events.

“We are confident that the legal process yet to unfold will reveal the true facts in this matter and specifically refute OSHA’s contention that our colleague’s grievous injury was caused by a lack of training when the facts show it was an unpreventable, inexplicable accident,” the Zwanenberg spokesperson told WCPO.

The plant’s alleged failure to provide employees with protective goggles and their reported violation of rules involving their annual inspections were also noted in OSHA’s investigation.

“This young man suffered a preventable debilitating injury because his employer failed to train him and the majority of its third-shift sanitation workers adequately to lockout equipment to ensure their own safety,” OSHA Regional Administrator Bill Donovan said in a statement. “This tragedy is compounded by the fact that OSHA cited Zwanenberg for similar violations two weeks prior, and they continued to ignore their responsibility to protect workers in their plant.”

Zwanenberg Food Group was previously cited in 2017 and 2022 for machine safety violations, according to the news release.

This story was originally published April 7, 2023 at 10:55 AM with the headline "Temp worker falls in industrial blender at Ohio plant and leg is amputated, feds say."