A New York potato chip maker is among the latest manufacturing firms to feel the bite of OSHA’s Site-Specific Targeting (SST) Program.

Terrell's Potato Chip Co. in DeWitt faces $115,500 in fines for 23 alleged violations of workplace safety standards, OSHA said in a recent news release. Citations were written following an inspection last June for lack of guards on machinery, unsecured stacks of materials, damaged electrical parts, lack of training and other alleged deficiencies. The company was targeted under the SST program due to the number of injuries and illnesses it had reported.

OSHA’s SST program is the agency’s main programmed inspection plan for non-construction workplaces that have at least 20 employees. The SST initiative, now in its 15th year, is based on data received from the prior year’s OSHA Data Initiative survey. It is designed to reduce injuries and illnesses by directing enforcement resources to where the highest injury and illness rates have occurred.

Many more workplaces meet SST program targeting criteria than the agency inspects in a given year. For instance, from August 2010 through September 2011, 13,827 worksites met the criteria, but only 2,146 were inspected. OSHA is currently conducting a study on the impact of the program on employee safety.