Aug. 6, 2015

OSHA finds Wisconsin packaging plant disabled machine safety devices
OSHA proposes penalties of $63K to Warren Industries for endangering workers

Employer name: Warren Industries Inc.

Investigation site: 3100 Mt. Pleasant Street, Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Milwaukee area office issued one willful safety violation to Warren Industries, Aug. 4, for exposing workers to machine hazards.

Investigators found safety guards and interlocks were bypassed on three packing lines allowing workers to come in contact with operating parts of machines which can cause injuries such as lacerations, fractures and amputation. OSHA initiated its inspection after a former employee reported he was injured at the plant in 2014.

"Warren Industries disabled safety guards to keep production moving and that is unacceptable," said Christine Zortman, OSHA's area director in Milwaukee. "The company needs to take immediate action to protect workers on the job."

Warren Industries began operations in 1973 as a contract packaging company doing handwork projects. Today, the company is one of the largest co-packing, packaging and mechanical binderies in the Midwest.

Proposed Penalties: $63,000

Link to citations: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/osha/OSHA20151495fs.pdf

To ask questions; obtain compliance assistance; file a complaint or report amputations, eye loss, workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency's Milwaukee Area Office at 414-297-3315.

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Media Contacts:

Scott Allen, 312-353-6976, allen.scott@dol.gov
Rhonda Burke, 312-353-6976, burke.rhonda@dol.gov

Release Number: 15-1495-CHI

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