Pharmavite LLC: OSHA inspections and violations

Incident on Dec 5, 2006: Employee fractures foot when caught between lift trucks

At approximately 9:00 a.m. on December 5, 2006, Employee #1, a lift truck operat or, was working at a vitamin manufacturing facility. Employee #1 was driving a s tand-up lift truck to pull orders. Employee #1 had driven his lift truck to the location adjacent to the warehouse office to speak with his supervisor and remai ned on his lift truck while speaking with the supervisor. Employee #1 finished h is conversation with the supervisor who was located to his right, and began to d rive to his left side without looking. A coworker in the area yelled stop and Em ployee #1 looked to his left side and saw a sit-down lift truck parked directly in his path, approximately two feet away. Employee #1 immediately released the a ccelerator, applied the brakes, and inadvertently put his foot out of the lift t ruck in an attempt to stop. Employee #1 was not able to stop the lift truck and his foot was caught between the two lift trucks resulting in a severely fracture d left foot and ankle, requiring surgery. Employee #1 was hospitalized for five days.

Incident on May 3, 2005: Two employees are injured in pharmaceutical flash fire

On May 3, 2005, Employees #1 and #2 were pouring ingredients into a large blende r at Pharmavite; a manufacturer of vitamins in gelatin, tablet and caplet forms. The blender tumbled to make a homogenous mixture of the ingredients. When ingre dients were to be added, the mixer would be stopped with the opening at the top. Employees would then attach an electric circular shaker box that vibrated to br eak up the powder as it went down into the blender. The shaker box had a local e xhaust system that was made of plastic material throughout. A plastic coated con ductor within the plastic pipe served to maintain the integrity of the pipe. The re was no means of bonding or grounding. Employees #1 and #2 were injured when t hey each poured an ingredient into the blender at the same time, a dust deflagra tion (flash fire) occurred and flames came out of the blender. The employees wer e hospitalized at Sherman Oaks Burn Center for burns on their hands and backs. T he exact source of the ignition could not be determined.