GREELEY, COLO. – A recent notice by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) proposed that JBS USA should be fined $174,566 following the amputation of a worker’s arm at its Swift Beef Co. processing plant in Greeley, Colo.

According to the OSHA citation, the person was performing a shift clean-up task near a conveyor belt on Feb. 17, 2021. The worker reached for a product that fell off the belt and removed a blue plastic sleeve that helps smocks not dangle near dangerous zones in the plant. Following that, the worker was caught in the drive sprockets of the conveyor.

The agency stated the following reasoning for why the incident occurred. 

“The employer did not retrain employees when inadequacies in the affected employee's use of PPE (personal protective equipment) indicated the employee had not retained the requisite understanding,” OSHA said in its notice. 

There were three total citations issued by the agency. JBS can request an informal conference with the area director of OSHA within 15 business days of receiving the citation or comply. 

“Our sympathies go out to our team member who was impacted during this accident,” a JBS spokesperson said. “As a result of the incident, we conducted a full-plant safety audit, including a comprehensive review of machine guarding and related abatements, and enlisted a third-party expert to review our health and safety training and protocols.”