Utah regulators fine Sabinsa Corp. more than $11K for violations following worker’s death

Utah regulators slap supplement maker with fines

SALT LAKE CITY — A nutritional supplement maker has been cited for dust-control violations after a 29-year-old employee told nurses on his death bed that he had been poisoned by selenium powder from working without a required respirator.

Sabinsa Corp. was fined more than $11,000 by Utah regulators for violations of safety procedures discovered at its Payson warehouse after Mauricio Lacayo died in January. The Associated Press obtained a copy of 15 safety citations Tuesday in an open-records request from the Utah Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The inspector found that Sabinsa left workers exposed to too much ambient dust over a day’s shift while mixing batches of supplements, according to the documents. The workers were equipped with a sampling device for that determination.

Before he died, Lacayo told a health clinic he had been poisoned from breathing a powder form of selenium while on the job. Selenium is a trace mineral necessary for health in tiny amounts but is toxic at higher doses, according to the Office of Dietary Supplements of the National Institutes of Health.

The Saratoga Springs man had difficulty breathing, was a greenish color and had a pungent odor before dying of cardiac arrest, Intermountain Healthcare spokeswoman Janet Frank has said.

Sabinsa makes herbal extracts and chemicals for the nutritional, pharmaceutical and food industries. Its operation in Payson, about 60 miles south of Salt Lake City, mainly serves as a warehouse for distribution across the West.

At the time of Lacayo’s death, the company issued a statement saying nothing Lacayo handled was toxic or dangerous.

The chief executive of East Windsor, N.J.-based Sabinsa, Jeff Lind, had no immediate comment when reached Tuesday. He asked the AP to submit questions in writing.

Saratoga Springs police, which investigated Lacayo’s death, didn’t immediately return calls on the medical examiner’s findings. Utah’s medical examiner is prohibited from releasing any information without family consent.

The state’s OSHA levied the citations, together with a fine of $11,375, on June 10. The company can reduce the fines to $4,550 by resolving the safety problems within 30 days, according to regulators.

Sabinsa was faulted for paperwork lapses, electrical hazards and failing to train workers properly on operating forklifts. It also was cited for failing to show workers how to properly fit and use respirators or evaluate them to determine if they could wear the masks without medical complications.

Lacayo told his clinic he’d been exposed to selenomethionine. He turned over an information sheet on its potential dangers and corrected health officials on its spelling.

The first violation cited against Sabinsa appears to match the circumstances described by Lacayo before his death, but his name doesn’t appear in the papers.

On Jan. 19, the day Lacayo died, an unidentified worker without a face mask was observed by colleagues retrieving 10 grams of selenomethionine for a quality control test, according to the documents.

“Serious injury or death can occur when supervisory personnel do not enforce safety regulations put in place to ensure the health and lives of employees,” that citation said.