Worker dies after falling into vat of chocolate

July 10, 2009 by Fred Hosier

Posted in: Bizarre Accident of the Week, Falls, Fatality, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views

Here’s a reminder about the importance of guarding against slip-and-falls.

A worker slipped and fell into a vat of hot melted chocolate and died at a factory in Camden, NJ.

29-year-old Vincent Smith II was one of four workers on a platform above the vat at the Lyons & Sons facility. They were dumping solid chocolate into the vat to be melted.

After falling, he was hit by an agitator that’s used to mix the chocolate and killed.

The man appeared to have died instantly from the blow to the head from the agitator.

A co-worker slammed on an emergency shutoff switch, but it was too late.

News media accounts haven’t included details about the quality or presence of guardrails around the vat. OSHA is investigating.

Tags: dies in vat of chocolate, Lyons & Sons, slip and fall

4 Responses to “Worker dies after falling into vat of chocolate”

Mark Says:
July 13th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
RIP
Shay Says:
July 13th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
There has to be a better way to dump the chocolate than have people do it from a height like that. The rail would have had to have been low to “dump chocolate” off into the vat. And speaking of the lowering of the agitator which was what killed the person, I wonder who and why they did that? Was it an automatic thing or something?
Stacy Says:
July 14th, 2009 at 11:08 am
Guarding, design of the work environment, preplanning and training all important. This tragidy should not of happened.
Diane Says:
July 16th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
I know death is very serious and this one should not have happened but this does bring a small twist to the phrase – “Death by Chocolate”.

May those who survived this incident learn and improve the safety of their work environment so it never happens again.