Fiesta Mart Faces More than $1M in OSHA Fines After Worker Amputations

Houston-based grocer Fiesta Mart faces more than $1 million in federal fines after two workers suffered fingertip amputations while using band saws to cut meat, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced this week.

OSHA inspections in February and May to Fiesta Mart stores in Dallas and Plano, Texas, determined that the two butchers sustained the injuries due to unguarded machinery, OSHA said.

A WGB call to Fiesta Mart’s parent company, Bodega Latina Corp., was not immediately returned early Thursday.

This is not the first time Fiesta Mart workers have suffered similar on-the-job injuries, OSHA said in a statement.

In 2015, workers at stores in Fort Worth and Dallas also sustained amputation injuries, as did workers at two stores in Garland, Texas, and Plano in 2018.

Following the most-recent violations, OSHA cited Fiesta Mart for seven willful violations for failing to guard machinery and proposed just over $1 million in penalties. The retailer has until the end of August to request and informal conference with agency representatives or contest the findings.

OSHA said this is the 13th time in nine years it 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," OSHA Regional Administrator Eric S. Harbin said in a statement. "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."

Fiesta Mart owner Bodega Latina is a division of Mexico City-based Grupo Comercial Chedraui, the operator of El Super stores in the U.S.  

The chain has operated in Texas since 1972 and currently has more than 60 stores in the state specializing in Mexican ingredients and prepared foods. Fiesta Mart employs about 8,000 workers, OSHA said.