Despite a history of violations and worker injuries dating back almost a decade, Fiesta Mart LLC – a Houston-based supermarket operator – has again run into trouble after federal inspections in February and May 2022 determined two butchers suffered amputation injuries due to unguarded machinery.
At two of the chain’s locations, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) learned that two employees suffered fingertip amputations while using band saws to cut meat at the chain’s supermarkets.
OSHA inspections dating back to 2015 – a year when Fiesta Mart workers sustained amputation injuries in Fort Worth and Dallas – found the grocery store chain repeatedly exposed meat department employees to amputation hazards. In 2018, workers at two stores in Garland and Plano suffered similar injuries.
Following the most recent inspections, OSHA cited the company for seven willful violations for failing to guard machinery, and proposed $1,015,189 in penalties. The latest infractions mark the 13th time in nine years that OSHA has cited Fiesta Mart for failing to guard band saws.
Owned by Grupo Chedraui's Bodega Latina Corp. – one of Mexico’s largest supermarket companies with U.S. operations in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Nevada and Texas – Fiesta Mart has about 8,000 employees in more than 60 stores in or near Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston.
