Pan-O-Gold Baking Co., the owner of a Sun Prairie commercial bakery, is facing fines over $260,000 after a federal investigation of a worker’s injury at the plant, Wisconsin Public Radio reports. The company was cited for two repeat workplace safety violations related to safety practices for machinery as well as six “serious violations” and two “other-than-serious” violations related to employee training, machine guarding, hand protection, and injury reporting.
According to OSHA, a worker was injured in 2023 while adjusting a sensor in a bread pattern forming machine, and the company allegedly failed in its requirement to report the injury. OSHA characterized the Sun Prairie employee’s injury as “life-altering” and said it would have been prevented if Pan-O-Gold had followed required safety procedures that would have stopped the machine from starting up “unexpectedly.”
OSHA also investigated the facility in 2019 following amputation and laceration injuries, and it found that from 2020–22, the Sun Prairie location’s injury rate exceeded the industry average by 160%.
Pan-O-Gold plans to challenge all safety violation allegations and stated that ensuring employee safety is a top priority.
