Mississippi slaughterhouse is directly responsible for death of migrant teen who was sucked into machinery, OSHA says

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NBC News

Jan. 16, 2024, 1:20 PM EST


A Mississippi slaughterhouse that supplies chicken to Chick-fil-A is directly to blame for the death of a 16-year-old worker who was sucked into equipment in July and killed within minutes, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Tuesday. OSHA, an agency within the U.S. Labor Department, said that it had cited Georgia-based Mar-Jac Poultry for 14 serious violations and proposed more than $200,000 in fines.

“Mar-Jac Poultry is aware of how dangerous the machinery they use can be when safety standards are not in place to prevent serious injury and death. The company’s inaction has directly led to this terrible tragedy, which has left so many to mourn this child’s preventable death,” OSHA Regional Administrator Kurt Petermeyer said.

Duvan Pérez, the 16-year-old worker, was cleaning the deboning area of the Hattiesburg plant when his hand got caught and his body was pulled into the machinery. OSHA officials say that while a Mar-Jac manager was supervising in and around the area prior to and during the accident, "procedures were not utilized to disconnect power to the machine."

Pérez was the second person to accidentally die at the plant after getting sucked into a machine in a two-year period. Mar-Jac Poultry did not immediately provide a comment, but in an October statement the company said that all safety procedures had been followed.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/mississippi-slaughterhouse-responsible-death-migrant-teen-osha-rcna133636

[Evolve Dammit]

1. This is sickening. I worked in pre-OSHA factories and it wasn't pretty. No excuse today. Lock Out/ Tag Out. nt

[LiberalFighter]

2. How would that play out with people knowing Chick-fil-A uses migrant workers?

[sdfernando]

3. OMG How Horrible!!

I'm so glad that I have never eaten anything from Chick-fil-A.

[sir pball]

4. They sell to much more than just CFA

A quick search shows that they sell to "multiple national restaurant chains" as well as wholesale distributors, which means you may well have purchased chicken they've processed either at a different restaurant or even at the grocery store. Not sure why the article singled out CFA; if I had to guess it's because they are a rather, ah, polarizing chain so it'll get more clicks and engagement rather than the more generic "fast food restaurants".

[Old Crank]

5. Fines???

Fuck that! Jail time for Fines are just a cost of doing business.
Send the CEO, CFO, and board of directors to prison.

[orwell]

6. I worked in a meat processing plant...

...this doesn't surprise me at all.

That is also why I don't eat meat.

So much for "pro-life..."

RIP Duvan.

[markodochartaigh]

15. After high school I worked in a large factory slaughterhouse.

It was the only job that paid more than minimum wage that you didn't need education or connections to get. I stayed a year and a half. There were two starting groups a week. About half the locals would quit before lunch the first day. Very few were there more than a month. I only know of myself and one other local who made it six months, unless they got promoted. The large majority of the workers were from Viet Nam or Laos, this was 1977-78, or México. One worker lost her arm on a bonesaw. Because we had a union she ended up being a secretary for life. I remember one day someone got their finger cut off. An alarm sounded and the belts stopped. We all had to look through the belts and bins of meat. After a while they sent us back to our tables and it started up again. The guy next to me stabbed me while we were working. I told the foreman. He fired the other guy, but he told me that we only had thirty more minutes on the shift so just keep working. I just kept deboning chucks and bleeding on the table until the end of the shift.
I only eat meat if someone has made something and I can't get out of it.

[Hekate]

7. Good God

[moonshinegnomie]

8. rather than fining them lock the top execs up for manslaughter

maybe a few top corporate execs serving long prison sentences will make them rethink their actions

[bucolic_frolic]

9. I don't, I can't sleep. That is horrible.

Mechanically deboned meat was a big issue in Congress in 1977. I recall it in WSJ.

It still has its problems, aside from injuries.


https://ask.usda.gov/s/article/What-is-Mechanically-Separated-Meat-MSM

https://ift.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2621.1977.tb01249.x

[Bayard]

10. What an awful way to die,

And it wouldn't have been quick.

Shut the company down until they retool their machinery, and pass rigorous inspection.

[ybbor]

11. Death Penalty for this "person"

If corporations are people, they should be penalized the same as a person. I’m assuming the pro-life state of Mississippi has the death penalty. They knowingly avoided the proper precautions, therefore it was premeditated. First degree murder. Full stop.

[LiberalArkie]

12. More than likely the plant was very pissed at having to shut down the like to clean up the human remans from

the chicken parts.

[GAJMac]

13. "Procedures"

"in an October statement the company said that all safety procedures had been followed." It looks to me like the company needs to review its "procedures". Based on the company's history, its "procedures" seem to include how to let kids get sucked into machines.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

14. US Department of Labor cites Hattiesburg poultry facility after 16-year-old worker is pulled into machine

https://www.osha.gov/news/newsreleases/national/01162024