Dudley firm fined $300K after worker's arm inflated
A Dudley packaging company and two local staffing agencies are facing a collective $338,000 in fines to a federal agency after an investigation of a serious workplace injury uncovered several other safety violations, some of which were repeats.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced Wednesday it cited Shield Packaging Co. Inc. of Dudley for 17 workplace safety violations and levied a $295,967 penalty against the company. Some violations were similar to ones Shield received after a 2013 plant inspection.
According to OSHA, the 2016 inspection stemmed from an incident that occurred on May 26 involving a temporary worker at Shield who was working on a production line where a gas head injects chemicals into aerosol cans. He was cleaning one of the gas heads when the production line unexpectedly activated, causing the gas head needle to pierce his finger and inject him with a propellant gas, which inflated his arm.
OSHA alleges the employee, not company management, was the one to call 911. He was taken to the hospital in a private car before emergency services arrived and was hospitalized. Shield failed to notify OSHA of the man’s hospitalization within the required 24-hour period, according to the agency. The company was also cited for several safety hazards at the plant.
In its investigation of the incident, OSHA also found two Central Massachusetts staffing agencies partly responsible. ASI Staffing of Leominster and Southern Mass Staffing Inc. of Worcester were penalized $24,942 and $17,460 respectively for failing to properly train employees to deal with hazards in their work environments. Together, the agencies supply about 86 of Shield Packaging’s 140 workers, according to OSHA.
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