Food company settles OSHA citations

A New Jersey-based snack foods company agreed to settle federal workplace safety citations and pay a $152,934 penalty.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Pennsauken, New Jersey-based J&J Snack Foods Corp. have reached a region-wide settlement agreement to improve workplace safety at the company’s eight food manufacturing and warehouse facilities throughout New Jersey and New York, according to an agency statement on Monday.

OSHA cited the company in September 2018 after inspectors determined that the company exposed employees to serious machine hazards, with the agency issuing willful and repeat citations for failing to train employees and utilize procedures to control hazardous energy when they perform servicing and maintenance work on machinery, according to the statement.

In addition to the penalty, J&J Snack Foods agreed to hire a full-time corporate safety director, a full-time site-safety manager and an outside safety and health consultant to conduct two safety and health inspections per year and implement a written safety and health program consistent with OSHA’s best practices guidelines, according to the statement. J&J Snack Foods will also provide employees with safety and health training in a language they understand and establish a safety and health committee comprised of employees, union representatives and managers to recommend further safety and health improvements.

“A repeat violator with a history of safety problems related to machine hazards took responsibility and is improving those conditions across the region beyond the violations identified by a single inspection at a single facility,” Jeffrey Rogoff, regional solicitor with the U.S. Department of Labor in New York, said in the statement.

"J&J Snack Foods is fully committed to the safety and health of all employees," a company spokesperson said an emailed statement. "We strive to provide all employees with the safest possible work environment and the knowledge necessary for each employee to safely complete their job responsibilities."