Gruesome incident: Employee dies after falling into meat grinder
March 2, 2011 by Fred HosierPosted in: Bizarre Accident of the Week, Fatality, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, lockout/tagout
Cal-OSHA will investigate the death of a worker who fell into a meat grinder. The company paid a fine seven years ago for another incident involving a similar machine.
Police say 72-year-old Leopoldo Gutierrez was cleaning the meat grinder at Central Valley Meat Co. in Hanford, CA, when he fell into the machine.
The worker was pronounced dead at the scene.
Cal-OSHA says the plant was investigated for an incident in 2004 when a worker who was cleaning a meat grinder activated it and was caught in the machine. The worker was able to switch it off before getting pulled in.
In December 2010, a worker caught her hand in the grinder and suffered a partial amputation. That incident is still under investigation.
The company was cited for failure to lock out the device and paid a $1,100 fine.
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Tags: cleaning, lock out, meat grinder

March 9th, 2011 at 2:26 pm
Has the employer heard of lockout/tagout? I suggest they check it out. 29CFR1910.147. It’s a good read. Yawn…….
June 29th, 2011 at 3:23 pm
Are you getting. They didn’t figure out what to do after the first incident? Really? Too many of the same type of incidents. Something is definitely missing in their safety procedures.