The maker of a few of America’s best-loved candies has been fined 1000’s of {dollars} after two staff fell right into a vat of chocolate at its manufacturing facility in Elizabethtown, Pa.
In June 2022, first responders have been known as to the Mars Wrigley facility and located two staff trapped in a tank filled with chocolate that had been destined to turn out to be Dove bars, native media reported at the time.
The 2 people concerned within the accident—who have been contractors employed by an exterior cleansing firm—have been rescued by hearth crews, who needed to minimize a gap within the chocolate vat to assist them escape.
Each have been taken to hospital, with one of many staff transported by helicopter, in keeping with reports. It’s unclear if, or how badly, they have been injured.
Following the incident, Mars Wrigley—whose confectionery merchandise embrace M&M’s, Snickers bars and Mars bars—discovered itself in scorching water with the Labor Division.
The Occupational Security and Well being Administration issued the conglomerate a nice of $14,502 over the accident.
The regulator mentioned the corporate had dedicated a “critical” breach of office well being and security legal guidelines, saying the corporate had put workers in danger by failing to make sure staff who have been employed to scrub its tanks have been accurately skilled to take action in a protected means.
A spokesperson for Mars Wrigley was not instantly obtainable for remark when contacted by Fortune.
Nonetheless, representatives for the corporate told the BBC that the protection of its workforce, together with exterior contractors, was “a high precedence.”
“We recognize [the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s] collaborative method to working with us to conduct the after-action assessment,” they mentioned.
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