Mars Wrigley was hit with a $14,502 fine from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) after two contract workers from another company fell into a vat of chocolate at the company’s Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, facility.
OSHA began an investigation into the June 9 incident, where two workers “became stuck in waist-high chocolate” while doing “maintenance work” for the candy company, which makes Snickers and M&M’s and more, the Philly Voice reported:
Emergency crews responded to the factory for the report that two employees couldn’t get out of a tank. The individuals were not floating around in the chocolate, but they were unable to extricate themselves without assistance.
To free the workers, a hole had to be cut in the side of the tank after rescue crews ruled out being able to remove them from the top.
“Both workers had to be taken to hospitals, one via helicopter,” Lancaster Online reported.
WGAL noted that medical personnel described the incident had the potential to be even worse.
A photo taken on February 24, 2016 shows boxes of Mars and Snickers bars at Vending At Work, a specialist in vending machines, in De Meern, the Netherlands. US chocolate giant Mars on February 23 ordered a massive international recall of Mars and Snickers bars made at its Dutch factory after a piece of plastic found in one snack was traced back to the site. / AFP / ANP / Lex van Lieshout / Netherlands OUT (Photo credit should read LEX VAN LIESHOUT/AFP via Getty Images)
“It could have been a life-threatening situation, just based on what needed to be done to get them out,” Edna Kline of Northwest EMS said in the immediate aftermath of the incident, per the outlet.
An Osha violation record indicates the company was later cited for not being “free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm,” putting the company on the hook for a $14,502 fine.
The Osha record alleges the company “did not ensure that the employee had the knowledge of the type and magnitude of the energy for the task, on or about June 8, 2022.”
Osha also noted the workers were not directly employed by the candy giant but were instead contractors employed by another firm.
Mark Chambers, the area director for OSHA’s Harrisburg office, described the fine as being part of a settlement that resulted from “successful” negotiations between OSHA and the company, per Lancaster Online.
You can follow Michael Foster on Twitter at @realmfoster.
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