Citations issued for health and safety violations were affirmed by an administrative law judge from the independent OSHRC, upholding an earlier decision by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The violations occurred at the company’s chicken processing plant. OSHA cited the plant in May 2012 for a variety of safety and health hazards, including failure to provide employees with information and training about the hazards of products that contain peracetic acid and bleach, as required by OSHA’s hazard communication standard. Violating OSHA’s lockout/tagout standard, the company also failed to train production workers whose operations included servicing and maintenance of machines that could unexpectedly start up. Judge Coleman found the employer had failed to train production workers on the hazards of chlorine bleach and Perasafe, an antimicrobial agent containing peracetic acid, hydrogen peroxide and acetic acid, used to disinfect chicken carcasses. The judge noted in his decision that employees told the OSHA compliance officer that they had experienced respiratory ailment symptoms and rashes consistent with the exposure symptoms described in the manufacturer’s safety data sheets for Perasafe and chlorine bleach. The judge also found that that the company’s machine maintenance procedures were overly general, lacking sufficient detail to provide employees with the steps to protect themselves from amputation and laceration hazards while servicing equipment. Moreover, production workers were not given basic training on how to avoid injuries when service and maintenance work was needed. Two employees were injured when attempting to clear jams on equipment without knowledge of proper procedures. OSHRC Docket Number: 12-1165 & 12-1269