CARGILL MEAT SOLUTIONS CORPORATION

According to U.S. Department of Labor enforcement records, CARGILL MEAT SOLUTIONS CORPORATION — a animal (except poultry) slaughtering facility located at 1505 E. BURLINGTON AVENUE, FORT MORGAN, CO 80701 — was the subject of a formal OSHA inspection that resulted in 12 citation(s) and cumulative proposed penalties of $30,775.00. The inspection case was opened on 2006-11-28.

The volume of citations issued during this inspection suggests systematic compliance deficiencies rather than isolated incidents. Facilities with 10 or more citations typically face comprehensive abatement requirements and may be subject to follow-up inspections.

BLS Injury Data: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2022), this industry sector has an occupational injury rate of 3.3 per 100 full-time workers — 22% above the national average of 2.7. The sector fatality rate is 2.3 per 100,000 workers.

Industry Benchmark: The total penalty of $30,775.00 is more than 3.6× the national average of $8,527.19 for facilities in the Manufacturing sector (NAICS 311611). This sector encompasses 24,420 inspected facilities nationwide with aggregate penalties totaling $208.2M.

State Context: Within CO, this facility's penalty places it at the 99th percentile among 32,935 inspected facilities. The statewide average penalty is $3,271.13.

Citation Analysis: The inspection produced 12 citations spanning 7 distinct OSHA regulatory standards. The citation breakdown includes: 7 serious — A workplace hazard that could cause death or serious physical harm exists, and the employer knew or should have known about the condition. 5 other-than-serious — The violation has a direct relationship to job safety and health but is unlikely to cause death or serious physical harm.

Enforcement Timeline: Citations were issued beginning May 3, 2007 with the latest abatement deadline set for March 5, 2012. Of the 12 total citations, 5 (42%) have been marked as abated in DOL records, which may indicate ongoing compliance gaps requiring further regulatory attention.

Penalty Assessment: The cumulative penalty of $30,775.00 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 $2,564.58 falls within the standard penalty range.

The enforcement record at the Cargill Meat Solutions facility in Fort Morgan reveals a pervasive breakdown in fundamental mechanical and operational safeguards, pointing toward systemic failures rather than isolated lapses. The high-gravity citations under 1910.212(a)(1) and (a)(3)(ii) underscore a critical failure to protect personnel from the point of operation and rotating parts, which are high-risk hazards in the high-speed processing environment of NAICS 311611. These machine guarding deficiencies, when coupled with the serious violation of 1910.147(d)(4) regarding lockout/tagout application, indicate that employees were routinely exposed to catastrophic amputation and crushing risks during both production and maintenance cycles. The penalty structure, totaling over $30,000 for twelve citations, reflects an enforcement posture above the industry average for the period, signaling that inspectors identified recurring hazards across multiple departments. The presence of violations related to powered industrial truck operations (1910.178) and unstable material storage (1910.176) further suggests a lack of effective management oversight regarding internal logistics and floor safety. Collectively, these citations demonstrate a failure to integrate safety into the facility’s core workflow, as the overlap of mechanical guarding, energy control, and material handling violations suggests that the site’s safety program was reactive rather than preventative. For compliance professionals, this profile serves as a textbook example of how technical non-compliance in machine safeguarding frequently mirrors broader organizational deficiencies in safety training and hazard recognition.