SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon workplace safety officials have cited a Springfield meat company for safety violations after a machine fractured an employee's fingers.
The state Division of Occupational Safety and Health said on Thursday it fined Bright Oaks Meat Inc. $7,850.
The division said the accident occurred in August while a female worker was feeding meat into a tenderizing machine, and her gloved right hand was pulled into the blades. Two of her fingers were severely fractured, and cuts to her hand required 60 stitches.
Investigators found that a guard on the machine had been missing for two years, and no effort was made to replace it.
The agency also found that the business failed to report the overnight hospitalization to the state within 24 hours.