Local Ice Cream Shop Fined After Worker Loses Fingertip

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LAKEWOOD – A local business has been cited by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration after an employee lost a fingertip and fractured another.

Mister Cookie Face LLC, 1989 Rutgers University Blvd., faces $103,476 in penalties after a sanitation employee was injured trying to unjam a machine. The employee lost a fingertip and fractured another finger.

The company failed to lockout machines to prevent unintentional start-ups during servicing. OSHA also cited the company for failing to provide eyewash stations and exposing employees to bloodborne pathogen hazards.

Mister Cookie Face is part of Fieldbrook Foods, a Dunkirk, New York-based company that manufactures ice cream. The Lakewood outfit is a 40,000-square-foot facility, one of three the company owns.

“This injury could have been avoided with worker training and the use of lockout/tagout procedures,” OSHA Marlton Area Office Director Paula Dixon-Roderick said. “Employers who implement an effective safety and health program can ensure that workplace hazards are identified and corrected to prevent worker injuries or fatalities.”

The company has 15 business days to comply.