MADISON, Wis. — A Madison ice cream plant is being hit with a dozen fines from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration totaling more than $145,000, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
The federal government issued the notice of 12 violations classified as “serious” to Schoep’s Ice Cream on Jan. 12, according to documents provided by the Department of Labor. The violations stem from an inspection conducted on Aug. 17, 2023.
The workplace violations include citations for:
- Ladderway openings to access the rooftop condensers not having self-closing gates that slide or swing away from the opening.
- Failing to develop procedures in the Emergency Action Plan for reporting ammonia releases to current emergency coordinators and other management to initiate evacuations or other emergency actions.
- Failing to document that equipment complies with recognized and generally accepted good engineering practices, including the current ventilation system (due to three new screw compressors), the King Knockout drum (due to missing nameplate/equipment identification), and the alleyway (due to doors not being self-closing or equipped with panic hardware).
- Not assuring that 2018 PHA recommendations were resolved in a timely manner, with 23 or 24 findings from the 2018 PHA were not documented as addressed or resolved.
- Not updating the process safety information including piping and instrument diagrams when Ice Cream Freezer 10 and Ice Cream Freezer 11 were added to the system, including all associated piping, control valves and pressure relief valves.
- Failure to promptly determine and document an appropriate response to each of the findings of the 2018 compliance audit and failure to document if deficiencies had been corrected.
- Not developing, documenting, and utilizing procedures for the control of potentially hazardous energy when employees were disassembling the Powder Horn Machine in the Production/Mix area to remove a clog, when employees performed lubrication maintenance to the chain of the Cartoner-Packaging machine, and when employees performed disassembly and reassembly of the Line 1 Mini-Cone Machine for sanitation on Nov. 13, 2023.
- Not conducting an annual (or more frequent) inspection of the energy control procedures to ensure that the procedure and the requirements of the standard were followed when employees were performing servicing or maintenance on the Powder Horn Machine.
- Not providing training to authorized employees in the recognition of applicable hazardous energy sources, the type and magnitude of the energy available in the workplace, and the methods and means necessary for energy isolation for the Powder Horn Machine, the Cartoner-Packaging Machine, and the Line 1 Mini-Cone Machine.
- Authorized employees not affixing lockout devices to isolate energy sources when conducting maintenance on the Powder Horn Machine, the Cartoner-Packaging Machine, and the Line 1 Mini-Cone Machine.
- Not providing one or more machine guarding methods to protector the operator and other employees in the area of the Line 3 Gemini machine.
- Not having a written hazard communication program which describes how the criteria specified in 29 CFR 1910.1200(f), (g), and (h) will be met in order to protect employees from exposures to hazardous chemicals, including anhydrous ammonia. Additionally, not providing employees with effective information and training on hazardous chemicals in their work area, including anhydrous ammonia, at the time of their initial assignment and whenever a new hazard that the employees had not been previously trained on was introduced into their work area.