ABF PACKING, INC.
According to U.S. Department of Labor enforcement records, ABF PACKING, INC. — a manufacturing facility located at 8758 SOUTH US HWY 377, DUBLIN, TX 76446 — was the subject of a formal OSHA inspection that resulted in 8 citation(s) and cumulative proposed penalties of $106,350.35. The inspection case was opened on 2020-12-15.
Cumulative penalties significantly exceed the national median for OSHA enforcement actions. The penalty amount suggests multiple high-gravity citations, indicating conditions that presented a substantial probability of death or serious physical harm to employees.
Industry Benchmark: The total penalty of $106,350.35 is more than 12.5× the national average of $8,527.19 for facilities in the Manufacturing sector (NAICS 311612). This sector encompasses 24,420 inspected facilities nationwide with aggregate penalties totaling $208.2M.
State Context: Within TX, this facility's penalty places it at the 100th percentile among 119,485 inspected facilities. The statewide average penalty is $3,783.80.
Citation Analysis: The inspection produced 8 citations spanning 4 distinct OSHA regulatory standards. The citation breakdown includes: 6 serious — A workplace hazard that could cause death or serious physical harm exists, and the employer knew or should have known about the condition. 1 other-than-serious — The violation has a direct relationship to job safety and health but is unlikely to cause death or serious physical harm. 1 repeat — A substantially similar violation was found during a previous inspection and the original citation has become a final order.
Enforcement Timeline: Citations were issued beginning December 10, 2020 with the latest abatement deadline set for February 16, 2021. Of the 8 total citations, 0 (0%) have been marked as abated in DOL records, which may indicate ongoing compliance gaps requiring further regulatory attention.
Penalty Assessment: The cumulative penalty of $106,350.35 reflects OSHA's gravity-based penalty calculation methodology, which considers the severity of potential injury, the probability of occurrence, the employer's size, good faith, and violation history. The per-citation average of $13,293.79 falls within the standard penalty range.
The enforcement record for ABF Packing, Inc. reveals a troubling pattern of systemic safety failures, primarily centered on machine guarding and hazardous energy control. The assessment of a substantial $106,350.35 penalty, driven largely by a Repeat violation of 29 CFR 1910.212(a)(3)(ii), underscores a management failure to remediate known hazards. For workers, these citations translate to a high-probability risk of catastrophic amputation or crushing injuries at the point of operation. The presence of a Repeat violation is legally significant; it demonstrates that the employer was previously alerted to specific guarding deficiencies but failed to implement sustainable corrective actions, elevating the facility’s risk profile in the eyes of OSHA. The interplay between the machine guarding violations and the cited deficiencies in Lockout