Six Workers Asphyxiated by Nitrogen at Foundation Food Group — OSHA Cites Four Companies for $1 Million
GAINESVILLE — The gas that killed six workers at a Georgia poultry plant had no color, no smell, and gave no warning at all. On July 23, 2021, OSHA cited Foundation Food Group and three other companies with a combined 59 violations and $998,637 in proposed penalties for the January 28, 2021 liquid nitrogen release in Gainesville.
The Incident
A liquid nitrogen immersion freezer at the plant malfunctioned, releasing liquid nitrogen that vaporized and displaced the breathable air. Three maintenance workers who had never been trained on nitrogen’s dangers entered the freezer area first and were overcome almost instantly. Others who came to help were overcome in turn. Six workers died of asphyxiation and at least a dozen more were hospitalized. The Chemical Safety Board’s final investigation later traced the failure to a control-system “bubbler tube” bent during maintenance — and found the plant had no atmospheric monitoring, no alarms, and no emergency preparedness for a release.
The Investigation
OSHA cited Foundation Food Group Inc. with 26 violations, including six willful ones, and $595,474 in proposed penalties. Sanitation contractor Packers Sanitation Services Inc. drew 17 serious and two repeat violations for $286,720; nitrogen supplier Messer LLC received six serious violations and $74,118; and equipment servicer FS Group Inc. received eight serious violations and $42,325. Nobody at the site — not the plant, not the contractors, not the gas supplier — had ensured workers could recognize an oxygen-deficient atmosphere or knew what to do when one appeared.
OSHA’s Stance
“This horrible tragedy could have been prevented had the employers taken the time to use – and teach their workers the importance of – safety precautions,” said Kurt Petermeyer, OSHA’s regional administrator in Atlanta.
Lessons to Take Home
Nitrogen is not toxic — it kills by taking the oxygen away, and a single breath in a nitrogen-rich atmosphere can cause unconsciousness. Because it is invisible and odorless, the only defenses are engineering and knowledge: oxygen monitors with alarms anywhere cryogenic gases are used, ventilation, and training so every worker on site — including contractors — understands the hazardous substances around them before the first shift, not after the first alarm.
The rescuer deaths here repeat the grimmest pattern in this line of work, the same one we reported in the Colorado dairy farm hydrogen sulfide tragedy: the instinct to run toward a downed co-worker multiplies the casualties. Train your crew that an atmosphere that dropped one person will drop the next, and that stopping to call for equipped rescuers is the brave choice. Build that discipline with our stop work authority talk at your next safety meeting.
