Mar-Jac reaches agreement with OSHA over fines for safety violations related to teenager's death

Just over a year after a 16-year-old was killed on the job at a chicken processing plant in Hattiesburg, the company reached a settlement with OSHA, agreeing to pay a $164,814 fine and implement enhanced safety measures to protect employees from known hazards.

Duvan Perez died on July 14, 2023, after becoming trapped in a machine while disinfecting the area at Mar-Jac Poultry. In January, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration accused the company of failing to follow safety procedures and fined it $212,646 for 17 safety violations, 14 of which were classified as “serious.” Perez's death was the third at Mar-Jac since 2020.

Among the violations investigators found were failure to follow safety procedures to turn off power to the machine in which Perez became entangled, and failure to use a lockout/tagout device to prevent the machine from accidentally starting during cleaning, even though a supervisor was monitoring operations in the area in and around the deboning machine.