A U.S. Department of Labor investigation finds that the operator of a north central Wisconsin meat and sausage manufacturing plant might have spared two employees from suffering serious hand injuries by following required machine safety standards.
Inspectors with the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigating how a turning auger on a meat processing machine at Abbyland Foods Inc. amputated the top of a 37-year-old worker’s finger in December 2022 received a report of a second worker’s injury at the plant a month later. In the January 2023 incident, a sliding guard on a trash compactor crushed a 23-year-old worker’s hand.