Border Valley Trading: OSHA inspections and violations

Incident on Aug 7, 2019: Employee suffers heat-related illness

At 9:00 p.m. on August 7, 2019, an employee was working outdoors in 106 degree temperatures. The employee had symptoms of stomach cramps and went home after a meeting. The employee was diagnosed with heat-related illness and was treated, but was not hospitalized for more than 24 hours.

Incident on Jul 9, 2018: Employee lacerates forearm when struck by abrasive wheel on

At 5:30 p.m. on July 9, 2018, an employee was using a handheld angle grinder with an abrasive wheel attached to sharpen the blade edges on a Double Press Natural Bale Press to cut hay bales into smaller bales. The employee was sharpening the vertical blade when the abrasive wheel struck the lip at the top of the blade, causing the grinder to jump. The employee lost control of the grinder and lacerated his left forearm when he was struck by the abrasive wheel. The employee was transported to Emmanuel Medical Center, where he was admitted and treated.

Incident on Jul 16, 2012: Employee is crushed when caught by hay bailing machinery

At approximately 2:45 p.m. on July 16, 2012, Employee #1 was processing and expo rting hay and alfalfa products. Part of his duties included cleaning the process ing area and ensuring process operations were moving properly. The process machi nes are fully automated and require no actions by employees. A supervisor in the press barn discovered Employee #1 caught in between the frame of the machine an d the lifting arm of the elevating platform. He sustained crushing injuries to t he upper torso, rib fractures and fracture to the left upper arm and was transpo rted to Desert Regional Medical Center via paramedics.

Incident on Aug 9, 2011: Employee is caught in destacker machine, fractures pelvis

On August 9, 2011, Employee #1 noticed a block of hay that would not move up int o the table area of a destacker machine. As he examined the machine, he discover ed that two hay bales had fallen off the top of the hay block and were wedged be tween the elevator wall, which blocked the bottom bales from moving up. He turne d the machine off and asked a coworker to assist him. Employee #1 was getting re ady to go down inside the elevator area, when he crossed in front of the electro nic eye, which was not deenergized. The solenoids activated and released their s tored hydraulic energy, triggering the movement of the sweeper bar. Employee #1 was caught at his waist between the sweeper bar and frame, which fractured his p elvis. As the stored hydraulic energy dissipated, the sweeper bar stopped moving . Employee #1 was transported to a medical center, where he underwent surgical p rocedures and was hospitalized for postoperative care.