I will never understand why/how a location identifies a hazard, in this case, OSHA identified it, failed to take that learning, and did NOT APPLY it across the business where that hazard is present. In this case, a federal workplace safety investigation at a cattle processing plant – now cited seven times by inspectors for endangering workers since March 2020 – found employees exposed to high carbon dioxide levels. Dry ice used to keep meat at safe temperatures emits carbon dioxide gas. OSHA alleges that – despite knowing hazardous levels of carbon dioxide, management did not put an employee monitoring program in place or implement effective engineering controls to limit workers’ exposure to the dangers.
In September 2022, OSHA measurements showed the company allowed employees to be exposed to carbon dioxide ranging from 7,100 to 10,000 parts per million, far exceeding the OSHA permissible exposure level standard of 5,000 parts per million.
OSHA cited the company in November 2020 for allowing the same hazard to exist at the Missouri processing plant.
In all, OSHA has issued the company citations for 35 violations in five previous inspections from its 2020 opening through May 2022. An additional inspection remains open at the plant.