Hostess Brands LLC
Outcome
OSHA proposed $298,010 in penalties after a 29-year-old worker at Hostess Brands' Chicago facility suffered a fingertip amputation in December 2022 while reassembling a pump on equipment that had not been locked out; OSHA also found unguarded moving parts on multiple production machines throughout the facility.
Details
Hostess Brands LLC — Lockout/Tagout Failure / Amputation Injury (2022–2023)
Outcome: OSHA proposed $298,010 in penalties after a 29-year-old worker at Hostess Brands LLC's Chicago, Illinois facility suffered a fingertip amputation in December 2022 while reassembling a pump on equipment that had not been locked out, and OSHA investigators found widespread machine guarding deficiencies across the facility's production lines.
In December 2022, a 29-year-old production worker at Hostess Brands LLC's Chicago manufacturing facility was reassembling a pump on a piece of process equipment. The equipment had not been shut down and locked out per OSHA's control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout) standard, which requires machines to be de-energized and physically locked in the off position before workers perform service or maintenance. The equipment activated unexpectedly while the worker's hand was in the machine, amputating a fingertip.
Hostess Brands was required to report the severe injury to OSHA, which triggered an inspection under the agency's National Emphasis Program on Amputations for Manufacturing Industries. OSHA investigators found that the company had not trained workers on lockout/tagout procedures — a fundamental deficiency that created systemic risk across the facility, not just at the site of the December incident. Investigators also found that shafts, sprockets, and moving parts on dough mixers, coolers, icing stations, wrapping stations, and box stoppers throughout the plant lacked required machine guarding.
OSHA issued one willful violation (for the lockout/tagout training failure), one repeat violation, and five serious violations. The company was assessed $298,010 in proposed penalties. The repeat violation indicates OSHA had cited Hostess Brands for a substantially similar condition at a previous inspection.
Primary Source: Hostess Brands faces $298K in penalties after federal investigators find company's safety, training failures led to worker's amputation injury
How Crucible Prevents This
A lockout/tagout training completion tracker — verifying every maintenance-task employee has been trained before performing service operations — is a direct Crucible control applicable here. A machine guarding sweep checklist for dough mixers, coolers, icing stations, and wrapping equipment would have caught the unguarded shafts, sprockets, and moving parts documented in the OSHA citation. A preventive maintenance scheduling and sign-off system requiring lockout verification before any pump reassembly task is a Crucible workflow control.
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