A staffing firm and client company face $300,000 in proposed penalties after a temporary worker lost two fingers while cleaning machinery at a food manufacturing facility in Los Angeles, the California Department of Industrial Relations reported Tuesday.
The worker was cleaning a dough rolling machine on Oct. 2, 2018, when his left hand was partially pulled into the machine’s moving rollers. It caused two of his fingers to be amputated.
Priority Workforce Inc. was the staffing firm that assigned the employee to JSL Foods Inc., a maker and distributor of noodles, pasta and baked goods.
State investigators found the machinery had not been adequately guarded to prevent fingers from entering pinch points or de-energized and locked out while the worker was cleaning it. Neither employer had trained the worker to follow lockout/tagout procedures, according to the department.
JSL Foods faces $276,435 in proposed penalties for seven violations, including one wilful repeat serious violation and one wilful repeat serious accident-related violation. The company was twice cited in 2015 for similar violations, according to the department.
Priority Workforce, of Tustin, California, faces $29,250 in proposed penalties for three serious violations.