HILAND DAIRY FOODS COMPANY LLC

According to U.S. Department of Labor enforcement records, HILAND DAIRY FOODS COMPANY LLC — a fluid milk manufacturing facility located at 6901 I-30, LITTLE ROCK, AR 72209 — was the subject of a formal OSHA inspection that resulted in 6 citation(s) and cumulative proposed penalties of $32,037.10. The inspection case was opened on 2025-06-04.

DOL records document workplace safety violations warranting formal citation under the OSH Act. While classified at the standard enforcement level, all OSHA citations require corrective action and may indicate areas where workplace safety programs should be strengthened.

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 $32,037.10 is more than 3.8× the national average of $8,527.19 for facilities in the Manufacturing sector (NAICS 311511). This sector encompasses 24,420 inspected facilities nationwide with aggregate penalties totaling $208.2M.

State Context: Within AR, this facility's penalty places it at the 99th percentile among 15,726 inspected facilities. The statewide average penalty is $2,714.64.

Citation Analysis: The inspection produced 6 citations spanning 5 distinct OSHA regulatory standards. The citation breakdown includes: 4 serious — A workplace hazard that could cause death or serious physical harm exists, and the employer knew or should have known about the condition. 2 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 September 29, 2025 with the latest abatement deadline set for October 24, 2025. Of the 6 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 $32,037.10 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 $5,339.52 falls within the standard penalty range.

Hiland Dairy Foods Company’s enforcement record reveals a troubling nexus of high-gravity mechanical and structural hazards that point to systemic deficiencies in energy control and safeguarding protocols. The assessment of maximum gravity ratings for 1910.147(c)(4)(i) and 1910.212(a)(2) indicates that inspectors identified egregious failures in lockout/tagout procedures and machine guarding. In a high-speed dairy processing environment, the absence of specific energy control procedures and inadequate physical barriers on machinery exposes workers to catastrophic amputation or crushing injuries. These are not isolated administrative lapses; they represent a fundamental failure to mitigate the "point of operation" risks inherent in fluid milk manufacturing. The penalty distribution, totaling over $32,000 across only six citations, reflects a severity level significantly higher than the industry average for NAICS 311511. Furthermore, the inclusion of walking-working surface violations (1910.23 and 1910.28) alongside egress obstructions (1910.36) suggests a broader culture of negligence regarding the physical plant’s safety infrastructure. By failing to maintain clear exit routes and fall protection while simultaneously neglecting machine safety, the facility demonstrated a pervasive lack of oversight. For EHS professionals, this profile suggests a "wait-to-fail" maintenance strategy rather than a proactive safety management system, creating a liability landscape where any mechanical intervention poses an immediate threat to life and limb.