Poultry plant fined $1M over 'entirely avoidable' deaths of six workers

The Department of Labor this week issued nearly $1 million in fines over a January nitrogen leak at a poultry processing plant that killed six people and hospitalized at least a dozen others.

The agency in a Thursday document listed a total of 59 safety violations and $998,637 in proposed penalties for the Foundation Food Group and three other companies with roles at the Gainesville, Ga., plant.

The fines followed an investigation by the department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which found that six workers at the plant died of asphyxiation after entering a freezer room where an equipment malfunction caused liquid nitrogen to release into the air.

According to the OSHA, Foundation Food Group had not properly informed employees, either "by posting danger signs or by any other equally effective means, of the existence and location of, and the danger posed by the permit spaces."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/poultry-plant-fined-dollar1m-over-entirely-avoidable-deaths-of-six-workers/ar-AAMvYLW