APRIL 27, 2015
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
Bumble Bee Foods and two managers were charged by Los
Angeles prosecutors Monday with violating safety regulations in the death of a
worker who was cooked in an industrial oven with tons of tuna.
Jose Melena was performing maintenance in a 35-foot-long
oven at the company's Santa Fe Springs plant before dawn Oct. 11, 2012, when a
co-worker, who mistakenly believed Melena was in the bathroom, filled the
pressure cooker with 12,000 pounds of canned tuna and it was turned on.
When a supervisor noticed Melena, 62, was missing, an
announcement was made on the intercom and employees searched for him in the
facility and parking lot, according to a report by the California Division of
Occupational Safety and Health. His body was found two hours later after the
pressure cooker, which reached a temperature of 270 degrees, was turned off and
opened.
The body was severely burned, reports CBS Los Angeles. The oven is used to sterilize cans
of tuna, the station says.
The company, its plant Operations Director, Angel Rodriguez,
and former safety manager Saul Florez were each charged with three counts of
violating Occupational Safety & Health Administration rules that caused a
death.
The charges specify that the company and the two men
willfully violated rules that require implementing a safety plan, rules for
workers entering confined spaces, and a procedure to keep machinery or
equipment turned off if someone's working on it.
Rodriguez, 63, of Riverside, and Florez, 42, of Whittier,
could face up to three years in prison and fines up to $250,000 if convicted of
all charges, prosecutors said. Bumble Bee Foods faces a maximum fine of $1.5
million.
The state's occupational safety agency previously cited the
San Diego-based company for failing to properly assess the danger to employees
working in large ovens and fined it $74,000.
Bumble Bee, which has appealed the penalties, said the
company improved its safety program after the tragedy.
"We remain devastated by the loss of our colleague Jose
Melena in the tragic accident," the company said in a statement. "We
disagree with and are disappointed by the charges filed by the Los Angeles
district attorney's office."
Florez refused to comment, and messages seeking comment from
Rodriguez were not immediately returned.
District Attorney Jackie Lacey said prosecutors and
investigators from her office have been going to major industrial accidents to
ensure illegal and deadly work practices are prosecuted.
Prosecutions of workplace violations are uncommon - even in
fatalities.
The state cited nearly 15,000 workplace violations in 2013,
according to the state agency. Of 189 fatality investigations opened that year,
the state only referred 29 to prosecutors.
District attorneys only filed charges in 14 cases that year,
though some of those charges could have been for cases referred in earlier
years. They could have brought charges subsequently for cases filed in 2013.
If OSHA rules had been followed (i.e. Lock-out/Tag-Out) this
accident could not have happened. Also, confined space regulations stipulate
that there should ALWAYS be someone stationed outside when any employee is
working in a confined space. This facility is obviously NOT following minimum
OSHA safety procedures to protect their employees.
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Bumble Bee Foods has been fined nearly $74,000 and cited for
six safety violations after an employee was cooked to death after being trapped
in an industrial pressure cooker.
The citations come seven months after state regulators began investigating the accidental death of Jose Melena, 62, of Wilmington. The father of six had been employed with the company for five years.
According to a 25-page report by the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health, Melena was responsible for loading the 54-inch by 36-foot ovens with 12 rolling metal baskets full of tuna cans. The ovens are used to sterilize aluminum cans and to process the tuna in the cans.
At the start of his 4 a.m. shift on Oct. 11, 2012, Melena was ordered by his supervisor to load one particular oven. Sometime before 5 a.m., according to the report, Melena entered the oven to make a repair or to adjust a chain inside the machine, leaving the pallet jack he was using outside the oven.
At that time, a second employee noticed the unused pallet jacket. Assuming Melena was in the bathroom, the second employee took the machine and loaded the oven with the baskets.
“Around the same time, the supervisor questioned why the employee was using the pallet jack and began asking employees if they had seen" Melena, the report said.
The report states an announcement was made on the intercom. Workers also began looking for Melena. They discovered that his vehicle was still in the parking lot. After searching for nearly an hour and a half, the boiler operator suggested that they open the last oven that was loaded.
The workers waited about 30 minutes for the oven to cool down before they could open it. Melena's body was eventually found at the exit side of the oven. Firefighters pronounced him dead at the scene.
The Santa Fe Springs tuna company was issued "serious" citations for failing to evaluate and identify the 10 ovens in the production area as hazardous and permit-required spaces.
State officials also faulted the company for not informing workers about the areas with "danger" signs or implementing a program to address safety precautions while working inside the large ovens, as required by law.
The citations come seven months after state regulators began investigating the accidental death of Jose Melena, 62, of Wilmington. The father of six had been employed with the company for five years.
According to a 25-page report by the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health, Melena was responsible for loading the 54-inch by 36-foot ovens with 12 rolling metal baskets full of tuna cans. The ovens are used to sterilize aluminum cans and to process the tuna in the cans.
At the start of his 4 a.m. shift on Oct. 11, 2012, Melena was ordered by his supervisor to load one particular oven. Sometime before 5 a.m., according to the report, Melena entered the oven to make a repair or to adjust a chain inside the machine, leaving the pallet jack he was using outside the oven.
At that time, a second employee noticed the unused pallet jacket. Assuming Melena was in the bathroom, the second employee took the machine and loaded the oven with the baskets.
“Around the same time, the supervisor questioned why the employee was using the pallet jack and began asking employees if they had seen" Melena, the report said.
The report states an announcement was made on the intercom. Workers also began looking for Melena. They discovered that his vehicle was still in the parking lot. After searching for nearly an hour and a half, the boiler operator suggested that they open the last oven that was loaded.
The workers waited about 30 minutes for the oven to cool down before they could open it. Melena's body was eventually found at the exit side of the oven. Firefighters pronounced him dead at the scene.
The Santa Fe Springs tuna company was issued "serious" citations for failing to evaluate and identify the 10 ovens in the production area as hazardous and permit-required spaces.
State officials also faulted the company for not informing workers about the areas with "danger" signs or implementing a program to address safety precautions while working inside the large ovens, as required by law.