A Hattiesburg poultry processing plant has reached a settlement with the federal government following the death of a 16-year-old Guatemalan immigrant.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that Mar-Jac Poultry has agreed to pay $164,814 in fines and implement enhanced safety measures to protect their employees from well-known machine hazards in response to Duvan Perez’s passing.
Perez is reported to have been pulled into a machine while deep cleaning the plant’s deboning area in July 2023. As he was sanitizing the still-energized machine, the teen was caught in the rotating shaft and sprockets and pulled in, sustaining fatal injuries.
“Tragically, a teenage boy died needlessly before Mar-Jac Poultry took the required steps to protect its workers,” OSHA Regional Administrator Kurt Petermeyer in Atlanta said. “This settlement demands the company commit to a safer workplace environment and take tangible actions to protect their employees from well-known hazards. Enhanced supervision and increased training can go a long way toward minimizing risks faced by workers in meat processing facilities.”
Perez’s family sued Mar-Jac and Onin Staffing earlier this year. The lawsuit alleged the poultry company had lackluster enforcement of safety regulations, ultimately resulting in the teen’s death. It also lambasted the staffing agency for having the 16-year-old employed at the plant illegally. Federal law prohibits anyone under 18 from working in a meat processing facility.
The agreement follows an investigation by OSHA into the failure of Mar-Jac Poultry to use required safety procedures. As part of the settlement, Mar-Jac has agreed to adhere to the following enhancements promulgated by federal regulators:
- Add another properly trained supervisor to the sanitation shift.
- Provide workers exposed to lockout/tagout and machine guarding hazards with updated training
- Require the plant’s manager and safety director to complete OSHA’s 30-hour general industry training and plant supervisors to complete OSHA’s 10-hour training.
- Institute a system for assigning, identifying, and issuing locks to authorized employees performing lockout/tagout functions and update programs and training to reflect this requirement.
- Conduct a risk and hazard assessment to evaluate the safety exposures and hazards associated with current lockout/tagout procedures for the sanitation shift. The assessment must include a review of any incidents, including near misses, injuries, and unexpected start-ups or malfunctions of machinery.
- Perform monthly lockout/tagout safety audits for the sanitation shift for one year and provide proof to OSHA, including what steps the employer is taking to reduce hazards in response to the audits.
Mar-Jac has raised live birds for poultry production since 1954 at facilities in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi for food service customers in the U.S. and abroad.
