Seafood Plant Employee Possible Wrongful Death
Jose Melena, an employee at a sea food plant for six years died Thursday when he was found cooked in an industrial size oven at the facilities. Investigators are looking into the mysterious situation. This case may also need the helping hand of a wrongful death attorneyfor the family.
Melena, a 62-year-old man, was found dead at the Bumble Bee Foods facilities in Whittier. Authorities are calling the situation that happened sometime before seven in the morning an accident.
Initial investigation reports state that the victim was fatally injured while he was cooked inside the oven.
California Division of Occupational Safety and Health spokeswoman Erika Monterroza told Whittier Daily News that Cal-OSHA began to investigate the situation that some are calling mysterious.
Coroners were able to confirm that Melena was fatally burned and cooked in the steamer machine, which is typically used to cook food and not humans.
“This is a horrendous tragedy,” Monterroza told the publication.
Operations at the plant were suspended while the investigation was taking place. Pat Menke Bumble Bee Foods vice president of human resources expressed condolences to Melena’s family in a written statement.
“The entire Bumble Bee Foods family is saddened by the tragic loss of our colleague, and our thoughts and prayers are with the Melena family,” Menke stated.
“Operations at Bumble Bee Foods’ Santa Fe Springs processing plant have been suspended since yesterday morning to allow for a thorough investigation,” Menke said. “We expect to be able to resume operations on Monday.”
OSHA will spend the next six months completing an extensive investigation of the incident according to their policies. They are required to frequently visit the operations plant, make extensive interviews and furthermore review the company’s documentation of safety procedures. This investigation will be meticulously checked against the California health and safety regulations to determine if any of them were violated.
If there are any indications of a violation, the organization will investigate those further and if they are indeed a violation, the plant may be required to pay up civil penalties. Then the case will be looked at by a Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office to determine whether criminal charges are warranted.
The Melena family has various options, one of which is contacting either a Los Angeles burn lawyeror a Los Angles wrongful death lawyer who can help them obtain the compensation they deserve by fighting against the insurance companies that often short change a victim of an accident.