US Department of Labor reaches settlement agreement with New Jersey commercial baker at Paterson facility

PATERSON, NJ – The U.S. Department of Labor has reached a settlement agreement with a New Jersey commercial baker to resolve litigation after a May 2024 follow-up investigation at the company’s Paterson facility found previously identified hazards had not been addressed.

The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration initially investigated Valenti’s Bakery LLC in June 2023, after an employee suffered partial finger amputations. OSHA conducted a May 2024 follow-up inspection to confirm the employer had corrected the previously cited hazards but instead found that the hazards remained at the facility. 

The settlement agreement between OSHA and Valenti’s Bakery affirms the citations issued after the follow-up inspection, which included two willful, one repeat, six serious, and one failure-to-abate citation. The company has also agreed to pay a $180,000 penalty. 

As part of the settlement, Valenti’s Bakery agreed to implement enhanced abatement measures, including:

• Establishing an employee-management safety and health committee.
• Retaining a third-party safety consultant to perform regular safety audits.
• Posting safety and health signage and providing appropriate safety training in both English and Spanish.
• Implementing a daily safety checklist and security cameras focused on improving exit route safety.
• Implementing new engineering controls.
• Performing spot checks to ensure use of proper lockout/tagout procedures.

OSHA’s machine guarding and control of hazardous energy webpages provide information on how to limit worker exposures to machine hazards.

Learn more about OSHA.