HANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Authorities are investigating the death of a 72-year-old worker who fell into a meat-grinding machine at a Kings County meat processing plant.
The Fresno Bee reports that the accident happened early Monday morning at Central Valley Meat Co.
The man, a Hanford resident, was pronounced dead at the scene. His identity is being withheld pending the notification of his family.
A spokeswoman for the California's workplace safety agency says the plant also was investigated for an accident there in 2004, when a worker who was cleaning a meat grinder activated it and was caught in the machine. Spokeswoman Krisann Chasarik says the worker was able to switch off the machine before getting sucked in.
The company paid a $1,100 for the failure to lock out the device in that case.