After last summer a pair of workers fell and got trapped in a chocolate tank, a factory in Pennsylvania is now facing penalties over the milk chocolate mishap.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has fined the Elizabethtown Mars/M&M factory more than $14,500. According to the AP, OSHA cited the facility for allowing unauthorized personnel to work on the chocolate tanks and for not properly training them.
“As always, we appreciate OSHA’s collaborative approach to working with us to conduct the after-action review,“ a Mars representative told the publication.
Last summer, two workers employed by a third-party contracting company fell into the partly full tank while performing maintenance. Both individuals were freed by emergency workers, who needed to cut a hole in the bottom of the tank to rescue the workers. Both the workers were transported to the hospital after the accident.
The Elizabethtown plant manufactures several confections including M&Ms and Dove chocolates. It also happens to be located just south of Hershey, Pennsylvania.
As we pointed out last summer when the accident occurred, this is not the first time in recent memory that a chocolate factory has been the site of a workplace injury. According to Newsweek, a woman was hospitalized with a head injury and broken tooth after her colleague at a candy factory in Italy struck her in the head with a two-pound chocolate bar. The 2021 assault reportedly occurred after the two had engaged in a lengthy argument about chocolate.
