US Department of Labor safety inspectors have cited a US food distributor for allegedly failing to protect employees against fire and explosion hazards at its poultry plant in Camilla, Georgia. Keystone Foods, a distributor for Tyson Foods, was under investigation after an incident in December 2024 killed a woman and left two workers with serious injuries.
The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration determined that on 26 December 2024, two workers at the plant, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tyson Foods Inc., were seriously burned when a hose filled with oil ruptured, igniting the oil mist and causing a fire and explosion in the boiler room. Inspectors concluded Keystone Foods did not ensure workers followed proper internal procedures nor the manufacturer’s guidelines when conducting maintenance on its boiler pump.
OSHA issued Keystone Foods a citation for a serious violation under the OSH Act’s general duty clause and proposed penalties of $16,550 (£12,300).
The incident also resulted in the death of a woman who wasn’t employed at the plant. The explosion is reported to have caused a wall behind the Keystone plant to collapse, killing the wife of a truck driver employed by the company.
The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) – which the workers at the poultry plant are members of – said in a statement: “What we’ve learned today is that Tyson Foods was in fact at fault for our member’s near life ending injuries, but a worker’s life can never be monetarily valued, and it certainly cannot be valued at a few thousand dollars. OSHA’s decision to issue only modest fines in the wake of the devastating boiler explosion at Tyson’s Camilla, Georgia poultry plant is the true embodiment of a broken system that lacks the teeth to protect workers.
