Hummus company fined $700K for employee’s death

Tribe Mediterranean Foods has been fined $702,300 after one of its employees died in a Massachusetts production plant last year. The worker was killed when he became caught in a processing machine he was cleaning, pulled in, and crushed between two rotating augers.

According to an investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the company did not properly train the worker on hazardous energy control, as required by the administration.

OSHA has fined Tribe for three willful violations, three repeat violations for not conducting periodic inspections, and six serious injury violations. Tribe has now been placed on OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program.