Federal safety regulators on Tuesday announced they fined MillerCoors $77,000 after a worker’s finger was cut off at the company’s Fort Worth brewery.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said it launched an investigation in early January after an employee’s finger was amputated in the brewery’s maintenance shop.
The agency found that lathes in the shop did not have required safety guards or emergency stops installed, violations that OSHA described as “willful” and “serious.”
“MillerCoors completely disregarded the safety of the workers who operate machinery to maintain the equipment in the facility,” Jack Rector, OSHA’s Fort Worth area director, said in a prepared statement. “The employer owes it to the many, many consumers who purchase the Miller Brewery’s products to do what was necessary to protect the employees who work hard to produce it from workplace hazards.”
MillerCoors employs about 700 people at its Fort Worth brewery, OSHA said.
The company has 15 days to pay the fine, request an informal conference, or contest the penalty.
MillerCoors spokesman Marty Maloney said in an email that safety is the company's top priority.
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"The issues brought forth in the citation have already been remedied, and we will continue to work with OSHA in our ongoing commitment to the well-being of our workforce," he said.
