U.S. Labor Department Cites Hanover Foods Centre Hall Plant for Dozens of Safety Violations

A Pennsylvania-based food processor is facing more than $760,000 in penalties for dozens of health and safety violations at its Centre County facility, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited Hanover Foods Corp. for 71 violations at its Centre Hall plant, the department wrote in a news release on Tuesday.

OSHA opened an investigation at the Centre Hall facility in October in response to a complaint about the company’s handling of highly hazardous chemicals.

A letter and citations sent to the company on April 10 outlined nine repeat, 51 serious and 11 other-than-serious violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 discovered during the investigations.

The violations included numerous alleged failures related to Process Safety Management, the requirements for safely managing hazards associated with the use, storage and handling of highly hazardous chemicals. Those infractions involved “lack of training; not correcting equipment deficiencies; failing to document that equipment complied with recognized and generally accepted good engineering practices and to establish an emergency plan for the entire plant.”

OSHA has proposed fines totaling $761,876.

Hanover has 15 days from receipt of the citations to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA or contest the findings before an independent review commission.

“Hanover Foods Corp. put its employees at risk of serious safety and health hazards by not complying with federal and industry-recognized safety standards at another of its facilities,” OSHA Area Director Kevin T. Chambers said in a statement. “We will use all of our resources to hold employers accountable when they neglect their legal duty to protect their workers from harm.”

The company was previously cited by OSHA for similar violations at its Clayton, Delaware, facility in 2019 and 2021, and last month one of its subsidiaries’ facilities in Vineland, New Jersey, was cited for seven safety violations.

York County-based Hanover is the largest independent food processor in the United States and produces glass-pack, canned, frozen, refrigerated, freeze-dried and snack food products under the Hanover brand as well as other private labels at nine manufacturing plants. The Centre Hall facility produces frozen vegetables, individual quick freezing beans, yams, pasta, entrees and buffet lines, according to the company’s website.