Savage, Minnesota · Grain and Field Bean Merchant Wholesalers · NAICS 424510
60inspections
108citation items
$16,732current penalties
Aug 11, 2023last inspection
OSHA has inspected Cargill Inc 60 times in Minnesota since 1972.
The latest one began on Aug 11, 2023 after a fatality or catastrophe, in New Richland.
Those inspections ended with 108 citation items: 15 serious and 93 other-than-serious.
Penalties were first proposed at $30,843 and now stand at $16,732, 46% lower after settlements or reviews.
comes up most often in these citations: 18 items under 5205.580.
How that compares: the median penalty per cited inspection for wholesale employers since 2015 is $3,425, and Cargill Inc averages $1,522 (2 cited inspections).
2 inspections on this page followed a fatal incident.
Cargill Inc also files yearly injury logs with OSHA, summarized below.
It reported 1 severe injury to OSHA since 2015.
Citation items per year, by inspection date.
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Incident on Aug 10, 2023 (fatal): Employee dies while loading truck with forklift
At 12:00 noon on August 10, 2023, an employee was operating a liquid propane-powered forklift in the main storage warehouse loading feed products onto a truck at the loading dock. The truck driver was wondering why loading was taking so long so he entered the facility by the loading dock entrance to determine the cause of the delay. The driver saw that the employee was slumped over in the forklift with his hardhat on the ground approximately 100 yards away from the loading dock overhead doors. The driver notified workers onsite of the situation. Coworkers found the employee unconscious and unresponsive, so they performed CPR and utilized an AED. Local police and emergency medical personnel arrived on site and pronounced the employee dead.
Incident on Sep 22, 1989 (fatal): Grain explosion results in two dead three hospitalized
On September 22, 1989, a grain dust explosion occurred at a grain elevator facil ity. Two potential sources of ignition were identified. The first being a cover for a tail pulley on a leg was found wedged in between the tail pulley and the l eg belting. Since both the cover and the tail pulley are metal, a spark may have ignited dust. The second possible ignition source was a head pulley shaft was f ound with bluing marks, indicating overheating, and the head pulley shroud also showed signs of heating, and may have been in contact with the head pulley shaft , producing intense heat. This explosion resulted in two employees being killed and three hospitalized with burns.
EMPLOYEE #2 HAD INSTALLED A NEW GAS LINE FROM THE SUPPLY TANK TO THE ROOF OF A B UILDING. THIS WAS TO SUPPLY THE FURNACE WITH FUEL. EMPLOYEE #1 ATTEMPTED TO STAR T THE FURNACE, BUT HE COULD NOT START IT. EMPLOYEES #1 AND #2 RETURNED TO THE RO OF TO BLEED AIR OUT OF THE NEW LINE. THEY THEN RETURNED TO TRY TO START THE FURN ACE AGAIN. WHEN EMPLOYEE #1 TRIED TO LIGHT THE FURNACE, AN EXPLOSION OCCURRED. E MPLOYEES #1 AND #2 WERE BURNED ON THEIR HANDS AND FACES. EMPLOYEE #3 WAS CUT BY FLYING GLASS.
From the Form 300A summaries employers file with OSHA each year. Rate = recordable cases per 100 full-time workers.
In 2025, the Big Lake site logged 15 recordable injuries or illnesses among about 174 workers: 8.5 per 100 full-time workers, against a median of 3.0 for its industry. Those cases cost 53 days away from work.
Site and year
Workers
Cases
Days-away cases
Rate
Industry median
Eggs - Big Lake MN
Big Lake · 2025
174
15
5
8.5
3.0
Cargill-ANH- New Richland
New Richland · 2025
26
2
0
8.8
2.6
Cargill, Savage, MN, SPF
Savage · 2024
29
1
0
3.7
0.0
Office Center
Wayzata · 2023
2,188
1
0
0.0
0.0
Cargill Research and Development - Engineering R&D
Savage · 2023
7
0
0
0.0
0.0
Cargill Salt Savage
Savage · 2022
30
2
1
7.2
0.0
Cargill Kitchen Solutions Inc Big Lake, MN
Big Lake · 2021
111
11
1
9.4
3.0
Cargill Salt Savage Minnesota
Savage · 2021
28
2
1
7.4
0.0
Severe injury reports
Employers must report any work-related amputation, in-patient hospitalization or loss of an eye to OSHA within 24 hours. 1 report on file.
On July 20, 2016, at approximately 12:30 pm, an employee was in the process of moving a loaded barge with a cable that travels through a sheave. The employee's hand became caught in the sheave amputating the employee's right index, middle, and ring fingers at the first knuckle.
The rules behind these citations
Current text from the Code of Federal Regulations. Some citations were issued under older wording.
(iv) Dispensing units. (a) Category 1 or 2 flammable liquids, or Category 3 flammable liquids with a flashpoint below 100 °F (37.8 °C), shall be transferred from tanks by means of fixed pumps so designed and equipped as to allow control of the flow and to prevent leakage or accidental discharge.
29 CFR 1910.106(g)(8)
(8) Sources of ignition. In addition to the previous restrictions of this paragraph, the following shall apply: There shall be no smoking or open flames in the areas used for fueling, servicing fuel systems for internal combustion engines, receiving or dispensing of flammable liquids. Conspicuous and legible signs prohibiting smoking shall be posted within sight of the customer being served. The motors of all equipment being fueled shall be shut off during the fueling operation.
29 CFR 1910.110 · Storage and handling of liquefied petroleum gases
29 CFR 1910.110(b)(16)
(16) Instructions. Personnel performing installation, removal, operation, and maintenance work shall be properly trained in such function.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, OSHA enforcement data. A citation is OSHA's allegation; employers can contest it, and the status column shows where each item stands. Something wrong on this page? Tell us.
