Ohio Worker's Leg Amputated After Falling Into Industrial Blender: DOL

A cleaner in Cincinnati had to have his leg amputated after he fell into an industrial blender at a food-processing plant, the US Department of Labor said.

The 29-year-old temporary worker suffered "critical injuries" after falling into a blender he was cleaning and getting caught in the rotating paddle augers during an overnight shift in October 2022 at Zwanenberg Food Group, the DOL said. He'd only worked at the company for nine months, the department said.

The DOL said staff weren't trained to lock the equipment prior to cleaning so it didn't move during maintenance.

The Cincinnati subsidiary of Zwanenberg, a Dutch company, produces food including luncheon meat, soups, and stews under brands such as Vietti and Southgate and employs about 175 people.

"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," said Bill Donovan, regional administrator for the DOL's Occupational Safety and Health Administration in Chicago, in a statement.

OSHA said it had cited Zwanenberg in 2017 and placed it in its Severe Violator Enforcement Program. The agency said it cited Zwanenberg again about two weeks before the accident, but that the company had contested the violations.

"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," Donovan said.

An investigation by OSHA following October's accident uncovered a number of serious violations, including 11 which it listed as willful. Cleaning staff weren't given information about wearing appropriate eye protection and weren't trained on how to ensure equipment was isolated, OSHA found.

The agency proposed $1.93 million in penalties for Zwanenberg.

"While we respect OSHA's authority and have worked productively and collaboratively with the agency for decades, in this instance we strongly and unequivocally disagree with several of its findings and its description of the circumstances surrounding the very serious accident that injured one of our team members," a Zwanenberg spokesperson told Insider. "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.