Approximately six months after a teenage employee of Mar-Jac Poultry in Hattiesburg died as a result of a workplace accident at the plant, federal safety inspectors have determined the plant was responsible for that incident and have cited Mar-Jac with several health and safety violations, which come with a proposed total of $212,646 in fines.
According to a January 12 letter to Mar-Jac from OSHA and the United States Department of Labor, the plant has been hit with 14 “serious” violations and three “other-than-serious” violations after a recent OSHA inspection of the facility. The letter, which is signed by Courtney Bohannon, who serves as area director at OSHA’s Jackson office, states that Mar-Jac officials must fix the violations and pay the proposed fines, unless within 15 working days of the citation, the plant schedules an informal conference with OSHA or mails a notice of contest to the U.S. Department of Labor.
"Mar-Jac Poultry is aware of how dangerous the machinery they use can be when safety standards are not in place to prevent serious injury and death,” said OSHA regional administrator Kurt Petermeyer in a statement. “The company's inaction has directly led to this terrible tragedy, which has left so many to mourn this child's preventable death.”
The violations cited by OSHA include, but are not limited to, occasions when:
- The employer allowed sanitation employees to use the top run and cap of a portable fiberglass stepladder, exposing the employees to fall hazards of up to approximately nine feet to the concrete below (serious violation, $15,625 fine);
- The employer did not ensure that a front half incline conveyor was turned off before a sanitation employee performed hand-scrubbing sanitation work, exposing the employee to a caught-in hazard (serious violation, $15,625 fine);
- The employer did not ensure sanitation employees affixed a locking device to the electrical disconnect switch for a front half dumper when performing sanitation work and standing on and under the equipment, exposing employees to caught-in and struck-by hazards (serious violation, $15,625 fine); and
- The area around a front half dumper was not guarded to prevent employees from entering the danger zone while the dumper was in motion, exposing employees to struck-by hazards (serious violation, $15,625 fine).
Plant officials have the right to contest all citation items or individual items, as well as to contest proposed penalties and/or abatement dates.
“Please inform me of the abatement steps you have taken and of their dates, together with adequate supporting documentation; (that is), drawings or photographs of corrected conditions, purchase/work orders related to abatement actions, air sampling results,” Bohannon requested of plant officials in the letter. “This information will allow us to close the case.”
OSHA’s investigation was undertaken following the workplace death of 16-year-old Duvan Perez, who, on July 14, 2023, died at Mar-Jac after he became entangled in a conveyor belt he was cleaning.
According to a new release issued after the incident by James Dickinson Jr., who serves as human resources supervisor at the plant, the plant immediately reported Perez’s death. Dickinson said the plant readily made records available for inspection, and plant workers have been open for interviews with OSHA and the department of labor.
“Both agencies have spent multiple days in the plant,” the release stated. “Moreover, we have always maintained an ‘open door’ policy and encouraged all of our employees to bring any matter of concern to the company’s attention, without fear of retaliation.
“Finally, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Labor, we have taken concrete steps in the form of new protocols and conditions for the staffing companies who assist us in meeting our labor requirements.”
On September 11, 2023, officials from the department of labor announced that investigators were seeking to interview MAR-JAC employees as the investigation of Perez’s death continued. Immediately preceding that announcement, OSHA obtained a warrant from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi to secure access to the MAR-JAC facility and investigate safety hazards related to the incident.
That warrant allows federal officials to question any employer, operator, agent or employee privately and to review records related to the operation and maintenance of the equipment involved in the incident.
“As federal investigators continue to try to understand how a 16-year-old died at the MAR-JAC Poultry plant in Hattiesburg, we are asking current MAR-JAC employees for their assistance,” Bohannon said. ”Federal law protects the rights of workers to participate in a U.S. Department of Labor investigation and forbids employers from interfering in any way, including by retaliating against an employee who does.
“With help from MAR-JAC’s workers, we can make sure the employer provides a safer environment for everyone who works there.”
Given Mar-Jac’s large number of Hispanic employees, OSHA officials said they also worked with local community groups to establish trust with workers and their families. In addition, the agency collaborated with advocacy groups such as the Immigrant Alliance for Justice & Equity of Mississippi to contact immigrant workers who may be fearful of retaliation by their employer if they cooperated with investigators.
On July 19, 2023, Mar-Jac officials issued a release stating that Perez “should not have been hired” because of his status as a minor, and that the employee’s age and identity were misrepresented on his hiring paperwork.
According to the release, plant officials immediately reported the teenager’s death to OSHA, which commenced an investigation into the incident. At that time, Mar-Jac leadership discovered Perez was a minor, which goes against a law that disallows individuals under the age of 18 to perform certain dangerous tasks.
“Due to an unprecedentedly tight labor market, Mar-Jac MS relies on staffing companies to fill positions at its facility,” the statement read. “These companies’ contracts with Mar-Jac MS require them to verify that every applicant is legally qualified to work before they start any job.
“This includes verifying their identity (including age) and immigration status using the I-9 form prescribed by the Department of Homeland Security and through the government’s E-Verify system. Mar-Jac MS relies on these companies to complete these checks and it is a condition of their contracts with Mar-Jac MS that they do so for every job application, without exception. Mar-Jac MS would never knowingly put any employee, and certainly not a minor, in harm’s way but it appears, at this point in the investigation, that this individual’s age and identity were misrepresented on the paperwork.”
