Universal Orlando Receives Minimal Penalty After Gruesome Workplace Injury

Employees are always at risk from workplace accidents, especially in industrial kitchens. When these accidents happen, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigates to ensure that they don’t happen again and that all workers are safe.

However, after the investigations are complete, it is up to OSHA to determine what actions should be taken by the employers to protect their workers better. It can be anything from recommendations to fines to completely shutting the business down.

But the business in question has the opportunity to appeal the fine, and that’s precisely what Universal Studios Orlando did. After an appeal, Universal Orlando Resort will receive a minuscule fine for a gruesome workplace injury.

According to Florida Politics, Universal Orlando was only fined $5,046 after a worker at Vivo Italian Kitchen at Universal CityWalk lost a finger in a workplace accident. The fine was reduced from $10,046 after Universal settled with OSHA.

According to the OSHA report obtained by Florida Politics, some of the dough got caught in the machine while making pasta. The worker turned the machine off and opened the canister holding the dough.

As she tried to remove the dough, the rollers on the ravioli attachment started spinning. Her finger was caught between two of the rollers, and she lost part of her right index finger.

According to the report, the woman had only been on the job for two weeks and had only received one day of training on the pasta-making machine that injured her.

In its investigation, OSHA found several violations at the Universal CityWalk restaurant. One violation was that the magnet used to keep a protective guard in position was missing.

The report also found that the ravioli attachment that caused the injury was “not adequately guarded due to a faulty interlock.”

Despite all of these apparent violations and the loss of an employee’s finger, Universal Orlando received a relatively minor fine for the incident.

Vivo Italian Kitchen is owned and operated by Universal Studios. In addition to its location at the Universal Orlando Resort, the company has another at its Hollywood Park.

There was no mention of any compensation the employee received for losing her finger or if she could still work at the food establishment. There was also no mention of any new policy or new rule that the restaurant had to put in place to prevent future injuries from occurring.

This post Universal Orlando Receives Minimal Penalty After Gruesome Workplace Injury appeared first on Inside the Magic.