The federal government has cited a Sennett business with 22 "serious and repeat" safety violations after its investigation into the death of a worker last year.

John Barreto, 47, of Moravia was killed Nov. 6, 2007, when his clothes became caught in a conveyor belt at the Auburn Metal Processing plant on Street Road, Sennett.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Thursday said that the business faces $44,100 in fines and had 15 days to participate in a conference with OSHA officials or to contest the allegations.

A news release from OSHA said that its inspectors found that conveyors and other machinery at the plant lacked adequate guarding to prevent employee contact with moving parts, and that hardware and procedures to lock out their power sources to prevent startup while employees worked on them were not supplied and used. The conveyors also lacked start-up alarms to warn employees.

The plant, which recycles metals, was cited by OSHA for seven safety violations and six health violations after two inspections in December 2005, according to the OSHA Web site.

One of the violations dealt with the plant's failure to adhere to OSHA's machine-guarding standards, which requires the protection of employees in the machine area from hazards like those created by point of operation, ingoing nip points, rotating parts, flying chips and sparks.

The plant paid $1,170 for the safety violations and $2,430 for the health violations within three months, according to the Web site.

Read the full report in Friday's edition of The Citizen.