Mississippi poultry plant settles with OSHA after 2023 teen’s death

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi poultry processing plant has agreed to a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor that requires it to pay $164,814 in fines and implement enhanced safety measures after the death of a 16 year old boy. at the facility.

The settlement, announced in a news release Friday, follows an investigation of Mar-Jac Poultry by the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration into the death of a minor worker who was pulled into a car while cleaning it on July 14, 2023.

“Tragically, a teenager died needlessly before Mar-Jac Poultry took the necessary steps to protect its workers,” said OSHA Regional Administrator Kurt Petermeyer in Atlanta. “This settlement requires the company to commit to a safer work environment and take concrete steps to protect its employees from well-known hazards. Improved supervision and increased training can go a long way toward minimizing the risks faced by workers in meat processing plants.”

“Mar-Jac was aware of these safety issues for years and had been warned and fined by OSHA, but did nothing. We hope that Mar-Jac makes it through this time so that no other worker is killed in such a senseless way,” Jim Reeves, the victim’s family attorney, told WHLT-TV.

OSHA initially fined the plant $212,646, but that was reduced after hearing from the company. Mar-Jac has a history of safety violations. In that case, the firm said teenagers are prohibited from working in hazardous jobs, and Mar-Jac blames Onin Staffing for illegally hiring Pérez. But Onin denies that he was Pérez’s employer.

The victim’s family sued Mar-Jac Poultry MS LLC and Onin Staffing earlier this year. The lawsuit alleges that Perez was killed because Mar-Jac ignored safety rules and did not stop the machinery during sanitation. The suit also alleges Onin Staffing was negligent in illegally assigning the 16-year-old to work at the plant.

Headquartered in Gainesville, Georgia, Mar-Jac Poultry has raised live birds for poultry production since 1954 at facilities in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi for food service customers in the U.S. and abroad, according to the DOL news release.

A phone call to the company seeking comment on the settlement was not returned Friday.

Photo: Mar-Jac Poultry of Hattiesburg. (Lici Beveridge/Hattiesburg American via AP)

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Mississippi Workers Compensation