Canton poultry plant fined for violating workplace health and safety standards.

Fifty people were evacuated and two hospitalized after liquid and vapor ammonia leaked into the air and engulfed the emergency exit at the Pilgrim’s Pride plant. This comes after a federal investigation into an ammonia leak at the plant that hospitalized workers in January.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration – or OSHA – found the incident was preventable and in part due to Pilgrim’s Pride failure to train workers on the hazards of working with ammonia. The poultry plant faces more than $100,000 in fines for the incident.

“A lot of the workers that work in these facilities are vulnerable,” said Shelly Anand, the executive director of nonprofit Sur Legal. “They themselves don’t know what their rights are in terms of having a safe workplace to go to every day.”