Harvey McDonald, 52, died in a fire started by his blowtorch when a pallet of frozen chicken fell on him in a Sanderson Farms warehouse in Collins in April of 2007. He had worked in the maintenance department and had been employed by Sanderson Farms for 14 years. McDonald was in a freezer, at the chicken plant, working with welding equipment when the fire occurred.
Following the incident OSHA fined Sanderson Farms $6,300. OSHA's investigations revealed that the pallets weren't stored safely. The company then went and appealed OSHA's proposed penalities, in November of 2008, stating that the worker should have cleared the rack before starting work on it.
A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday sided with OSHA and upheld the fine. "Sanderson focuses its argument on the policy McDonald violated by attempting to repair a rack without first clearing it of pallets. This argument is unavailing, however, because the OSHA citation was for unsafe storage, not for unsafe repair procedures; the storage violation would have existed even if McDonald had not worked on the racks improperly," said the panel.
Sources:
"Sanderson Farms cited in 2007 for fatal fire." HattiesburgAmerican.com. Associated Press. Web. 13 Oct. 2009.
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