Texas-Based Supermarket Faces $1 Million in Fines over Unsafe Working Conditions

Despite a history of violations and worker injuries dating back almost a decade, Fiesta Mart LLC – a Houston-based supermarket operator – continues to fail in its legal obligations to protect employees. Made apparent after federal inspections in February and May 2022 determined two butchers suffered amputation injuries due to unguarded machinery.

At two of the chain’s locations, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration learned that two employees suffered fingertip amputations while using band saws to cut meat at the chain’s supermarkets on Ross Avenue in Dallas on Feb. 18, and on Parker Road in Plano on May 23.

OSHA inspections dating back to 2015 – a year when Fiesta Mart workers sustained amputation injuries in Fort Worth and Dallas – found the grocery store chain repeatedly exposed meat department employees to amputation hazards. In 2018, workers at two stores in Garland and Plano suffered similar injuries.

Following the most recent inspections, OSHA cited the company for seven willful violations for failing to guard machinery, and proposed $1,015,189 in penalties. The latest infractions mark the 13th time in nine years that OSHA has cited Fiesta Mart for failing to guard band saws.

“Despite painful and permanent injuries suffered by a half dozen of its employees since 2015, Fiesta Mart repeatedly ignores required safety standards,” said OSHA Regional Administrator Eric S. Harbin in Dallas. “The company now faces penalties of more than $1 million for their disregard of the law. Fiesta Mart must change the way it operates before more workers suffer serious injury.”

Owned by Grupo Chedraui’s Bodega Latina Corp. – one of Mexico’s largest supermarket companies with U.S. operations in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Nevada and Texas – Fiesta Mart has about 8,000 employees in more than 60 stores in or near Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Source: OSHA