Posted on 08/12/2015 3:23:15 PM PDT by BenLurkin
The horrific death of Jose Melena of Wilmington occurred Oct. 11, 2012, when he entered a 35-foot cylindrical oven and became inadvertently trapped when coworkers loaded 12,000 pounds of canned tuna into the oven. Workers did not know Melena was inside, according to the DAs office.
During the two-hour heat sterilization process, the ovens internal temperature rose to about 270 degrees, the DAs office had previously said. Melenas severely burned remains were discovered by a coworker.
His family will get $1.5 million of the $6 million settlement payout.
Under the plea agreement, San Diego-based Bumble Bee will also be required to spend $3 million to replace the outdated tuna ovens with new, automated, pressurized steam cookers that wont require workers to set inside. Ovens will get video cameras installed, and managers and workers will be required to get safety training.
...
Saul Florez of Whittier, Bumble Bees former safety manager, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a felony count of willfully violating lockout tagout rules and proximately causing the victims death. He was sentenced to three years of probation, along with 30 days of community labor and safety classes. He must pay $19,000 in fines and penalties.
(Excerpt) Read more at ktla.com ...
Thank you... I remember an old episode of JAG where an operator on board a ship or sub was blamed for firing off a missile when he swore he had put a tag on the levers. It turned out that the tag had been knocked off (?) by someone and it was found under a cabinet when a missile had actually been sent on its way. Fiction I know but I believe some stories have authenticity.. And don’t disillusion me, please. I love the reruns at 9 ET each night.
Decades ago, a Supervisor at an Ontario coal-fired electrical plant, at the end of a plant turnaround, decided to look inside the furnace of a boiler. He hasn’t told anyone, he hadn’t LOTOed the opening he went into and he had no radio. The furnace was sealed shut and the operator was about to start firing with NG to warm the boiler. People started to ask about this Supervisor because he was nowhere around. Shortly, it was discovered that he had expressed interest in seeing the interior of the boiler.
Since he was not found, it was decided to open the furnace to ensure he wasn’t inside. He was discovered and rescued. That boiler heats steam to over 700°F and burns a train car load of coal each hour. If he had not been missed, he would never have been found. There would have been nothing but ash. After he got out of the furnace, he was given his walking papers.
What else is Bumble Bee skipping in their processes?”
Isn’t this the company that Pelosi’s husband has interest in or maybe even owns? I remember some tuna company got a break involving employees some time ago. Can’t remember any of the details but I do remember Pelosi being somehow involved.
Lock out, tag out refers to disabling power to equipment and locking the power panel or disconnect and red tagging it so no one may operate it or “accidentally” energize the panel or equipment. The keys are kept by the crew or person doing the work on the equipment.
This was a criminal prosecution, so the private lawyers shouldn't be involved (but probably were). So any division of the money is between the survivors and their attorneys, and probably shouldn't be dealt with in the context of the criminal plea.
Lock out. Tag out.
BTTT
Hence the need for the Lock as well as the Tag.
“And we love Flipper, Flipper, Flipper...”
Oh goodness! That’s darling! Classic! ;)
Thanks for the smiles!
StarKist Tuna. The owner is Del Monte, based in Pelosi's district. Pelosi's husband owns millions in stock in StarKist.
Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea are using facilities in Thailand to clean and can their tuna. This was violating the origin rules of the Buy America standards. There also were allegations that workers suffered terrible conditions while cleaning tuna. Because they were escaping USDA standards, a ban was placed in schools for their tuna. Millions of dollars in government sales were at stake. Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.) introduced legislation last year that would loosen the origins rules for tuna. I have no idea if those rules were loosened because that information goes nowhere in my Google search.
With HIS lock mind you.
Thanks, confirms that the outfit I was working for was in compliance. Sometimes gov regs are actually a good thing. (Doh!)
After seeing all those training films, with blackened corpses as the warning, yeah....some regs do make sense.
Oh, the films, and then you get the extra sadistic safety officers that bring in their own hand picked slides showing them right before lunch break.
They can’t even give some measure of mercy any more by either showing chick picts like back in the day. Things are just too PC for that anymore.
Thanks for the info. I generally have a photographic memory, but occasionally run out of film. So I won’t buy Bumble Bee, Chicken of the Sea or Starkist tuna any more. What’s left?
I bought Western Family chunk light tuna for $.59 a can. I made the best tuna sandwich with my own mayonnaise. Can’t beat that.
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