A packaging company in Massachusetts has been cited by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) after a temporary worker’s arm was accidentally inflated. The company failed to call for emergency medical services immediately after the injury to the worker and failed to report the incident to OSHA, which requires employers to tell them when a worker requires hospitalization or suffers an amputation, loss of an eye or is killed on the job.

The Shield Packaging Co, Inc. in Dudley, MA fills packages and ships aerosol containers. A temporary worker had not received proper training for his job and was cleaning a gas head on a production line. The line started up suddenly and the gas head, that normally injects chemicals into aerosol cans, injected his finger instead and his arm was inflated with propellant gas. His employer failed to call 911 and the injured worker, who had called 911, ended up going to the hospital in another vehicle before the responders arrived.

OSHA investigators were tipped off about the incident because they received a complained. They inspected the site and the two temporary staffing agencies that supplied workers to the company.

Shield Packaging was cited for failing to call emergency responders and for failing to alert OSHA to the hospitalization incident. They were also cited for failing to guard employees from aerosol can crimping machinery, failing to provide employees with proper hearing protection or other protective equipment like face shields and gloves. They did not train employees on hazardous chemicals or noise levels in the workplace. They received 17 serious repeat or other than serious violations in all, totaling proposed penalties of $295,967.

The staffing agency ASI staffing was cited for not training employees who were exposed to high noise levels, and for not training them on hazardous chemicals at work for proposed penalties of $24,942. The agency Southern Mass Staffing Inc. was also cited for failing to train employees on hazardous chemicals or noise levels, for fines totaling $17,460.

The OSHA area director of central and western Massachusetts, Mary Hoye, said that host employers and staffing agencies are all responsible for temporary workers. They must work together to make sure that employees are safe at any workplace.

OSHA News