Bartlett police and firefighter/paramedics responded about 7:20 a.m. to a report of a man claiming to having a bomb at Rana Meal Solutions LLC, 550 South Spitzer Road. The man was identified as a security guard employed at the international Bartlett pasta manufacturing warehouse at the same address.
The male security guard barricaded himself inside the business and refused to cooperate with police requests to surrender. Police then set up a large perimeter around the Brewster Creek Industrial Park where Rana and other businesses are located. A Northern Illinois Police Alarm System Emergency Service Team responded to the scene, and at least five rescue ambulances stood by near the scene. Fire departments from Bloomingdale, Carol Stream, and Hanover Park assisted Bartlett Fire Protection District firefighter/paramedics.
The man was placed into an ambulance after being taken into custody and driven away from the scene.
Bartlett reported that Rana and surrounding businesses were evacuated during the standoff which began about 7:20 a.m. Police also requested that Elgin Area School District U-46 officials keep students and faculty inside Nature Ridge and Liberty elementary schools located nearby. Staff and visitors were permitted to exit and return to the schools.
Rana Meal Solutions is the largest producer of fresh pasta in Europe, and opened its first American plant in Bartlett, Illinois in 2012. The pasta manufacturing plant was a highlight in Chicagoland business news when it was announced in 2011 that the company would be making modifications to its 100,000 square-foot building on Spitzer Road –purchased with local and state incentives.
The company was also cited by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in July 2012 for 12 safety violations when the company allegedly exposed employees to ammonia hazards. According to an OSHA Regional News Release, eight serious violations of OSHA’s process safety management standards were cited for deficiencies in the company’s ammonia refrigeration process. The violations included a lack of written standard operating procedures for the ammonia refrigeration process; no emergency action plan; failing to perform inspections and tests on process equipment; not addressing the hazards of the ammonia refrigeration process; and failing to address the findings and recommendations of the process hazard analysis team.
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