Inspection Detail

Inspection: 315145953 - Tribe Mediterranean Foods, Incorporated

Inspection Information - Office: Boston South Area Office

Investigation Summary

Sometime before 4:31 a.m. on December 16, 2011, Employee #1 was working at Tribe Mediterranean Foods, Inc., in Taunton, Massachusetts. Workers at the facility made hummus and packaged various food products. Employee #1 was employed by a temporary agency. He had been working onsite on the sanitization crew for over one year. He was supervised by the host employer, Tribe Mediterranean. He was cleaning and sanitizing a machine called the pump feeder skid machine. (Apparently, sanitizing is a step beyond cleaning.) It had two rotating augers, and it was involved in hummus production. Employee #1 was apparently cleaning the machine. He got caught by the machine, and he was pulled and crushed between the machine's two rotating augers. When he was removed from the machine, he still had a pulse. He did not survive his injuries for long, and he was pronounced dead at the hospital. A comprehensive inspection was conducted. The investigation revealed that the machine was not locked out. The employee had not been instructed to deenergize the machine before cleaning it. As well, the employer had not developed or implemented lockout/tagout (LOTO) procedures for the sanitization crew. Finally, the floor drains were not adequate, and the floor was covered with a slippery mix of water and chickpea paste. Citations related to the fatality were issued for: lack of adequate drainage and lack of LOTO procedures and lack of LOTO training for the sanitization crew. The incident was reported to the Boston South Area office via a HOTLINE call.

Keywords: ROTATING PARTS, FOOD PREPARATION, WORK RULES, CLEANING, LOCKOUT, CAUGHT BETWEEN, WALKING SURFACE, AUGER, SLIPPERY SURFACE, UNTRAINED