Illinois pet food ingredient manufacturer fined by OSHA

Pet food ingredient manufacturer All-Feed Processing & Packaging Inc. was found in civil contempt of court for failing to allow the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to inspect its Galva, Illinois, USA, facility from May 4-July 5, 2011. 
The manufacturer was fined US$31,000 for contempt and US$10,964.95 in attorney's fees by Senior District Judge Joe Billy McDade of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois for failing to allow inspections at its petfood packaging and research facility. McDade also ruled that the company's actions showed clear evidence that the company knowingly violated warrant requirements issued by the court in May 2011. 
"All-Feed Processing & Packaging's continuous failure to allow proper OSHA inspections, along with its history of severe violations, led OSHA to seek court intervention to ensure its workers are safe," said Greg Baxter, OSHA's acting regional administrator in Chicago, Illinois, USA. "We are pleased that the courts have put the workers' welfare first and upheld federal standards requiring employers to allow OSHA access to full-shift inspections to ensure work environments are healthful and safe."
In November 2011, OSHA cited All-Feed for 23 safety and health violations at the facility. In total, All-Feed's fines were US$758,450, which the company contested.

Firm fined £100,000 for employee death

UK petfood company Butcher's Pet Care Ltd. was fined £100,000 (US$168,300) for the death of an employee due to the company’s breach of health and safety regulations, according to the BBC.
John O'Connor, 38, from Rugby, Warwickshire, was crushed to death in 2003 when he climbed into a palletizing machine to clear a blockage.
The machine should have had a system to prevent anyone gaining access until the power was shut off, according to health and safety regulations.

Alba Proteins fined for explosion, worker injuries

Alba Proteins Penrith Ltd., a petfood manufacturing company, was fined £20,000 (US$33,700) after three workers were injured by an offal cooker explosion at a plant in Cumbria, England, according to Safety Media.
Workers were trying to clear a blockage in the industrial cooker in August 2007 when steam and offal exploded through the inspection hatches.
“Alba Proteins should have carried out a formal risk assessment so that it was able to offer employees guidance on how to deal with blockages safely. Instead, no training was provided and workers were put in danger as a result,” said Steven Smith, head of operations for the Health and Safety Executive, which prosecuted the company.