11/09/2015
Californian company, Bumble Bee Foods has agreed to pay a record $US6 million after a worker was cooked to death in an oven alongside tonnes of tuna.
Gruesome Death
Jose Melena, 62, died three years ago in a 270F oven at the seafood company’s Santa Fe Springs plant after a co-worker mistakenly believed he was in the bathroom and filled a pressure cooker with six tons of canned tuna. Mr Melena was inside the oven performing maintenance work.
His charred remains were discovered two hours later by his colleagues.
"This is the worst circumstances of death I have ever, ever witnessed," said Deputy District Attorney Hoon Chun, who noted that he had tried more than 40 murder cases over two decades. "I think any person would prefer to be — if they had to die some way — would prefer to be shot or stabbed than to be slowly cooked in an oven. "
Safety Improvements at the Plant
Under the prosecution agreement, Bumble Bee Foods must complete several health and safety measures by 2017, including upgrading all ovens so workers cannot become trapped inside and undertake employee training, or face further prosecution.
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