Jill Greninger, a female employee of Economy Locker Storage Co., a processing plant in Pennsylvania’s Muncy Township, was killed in an industrial accident on April 22, reported WNEP.
Her body was discovered in a large meat grinder around 11:30 a.m on Monday.
“We talked to the person who found her,” Lycoming County Coroner Charles E. Kiessling Jr. told ABC News on Tuesday. “He said he heard a noise and went to check on her and found her in the machine. He put the power down and called 911.”
The Lycoming County coroner says a worker is dead after falling into a meat grinder at a processing plant near Muncy.
Posted by WNEP-TV on Monday, April 22, 2019
“This was a horrible accident,” Kiessling told the Williamsport Sun-Gazette. “We don’t know if she fell in, or was pulled in as she was perhaps reaching for something in the grinder, which was about six feet off the ground.”
After the voluntary fire brigade arrived, it took them 45 minutes to disassemble the machine to retrieve the remains of the body of the 35-year-old worker.
The accident was reported when another employee heard strange noises coming from the machine.
Posted by People on Wednesday, April 24, 2019
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)—a division of the U.S. Department of Labor is currently executing an investigation into the incident.
Man Gets Hand Caught in Meat Mixer
On August 17, 2018, Myron Schlafman was making sausage in his garage in North Dakota, when his left arm became entangled in his electric meat mixer.
In an interview with KFGO News, Schlafman said: “When my arm went in there, that must have been instant shock,” Schlafman said. “I just looked and knew I was in big trouble. When I cut off my arm, I could feel my nerves jumping. If I would have hesitated, I would have stood right there and bled to death.”
Jamestown police officers rushed to the home of the 69-year-old and quickly applied a tourniquet, and an ambulance crew took him to the hospital. He underwent three surgeries in nine days. After recovery, he was fitted a prosthesis.
Schlafman, an army veteran, said he survived Vietnam, so he would survive losing a hand too: “It would be very easy to sit back, feel sorry for myself and get depressed. I went through Vietnam. I can handle this.” He continued: “I think I’ve learned a few things new. I’ve always appreciated life, but not as much as I do now.”
Dangerous Professions
A recent study found fishers and related fishing workers had the the highest rates of fatal injury in 2017.
“Commercial fishing is largely physical work that involves fishing nets, gear, and slippery decks. Fishers and related fishing workers can also be exposed to challenging environmental factors, such as extreme weather. In addition, workers may be out on the water or working from a remote area when an accident occurs, and easy access to a hospital or medical professional may not be readily available. The majority of fatalities among fishers and related fishing workers are due to drowning,” reported 24/7 Wall St, which conducted the study.
No. 2 in the study was logging, due to being physically demanding and often requiring workers to stay in remote areas. Most loggers died from being struck by an object or experiencing a mishap with dangerous machinery.
Aircraft pilots and flight engineers were No. 3 on the list. No. 4 is roofing, and falls, slips, and trips were the most common cause of death, according to the study.
Recent Workplace Deaths
According to OSHA’s most recent statistics, about 5,147 workers died on the job in 2017, which is on average more than 99 a week or more than 14 deaths per day.
“Fatal falls were at their highest level in the 26-year history of the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) accounting for 887 (17 percent) worker deaths,” said the Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Transportation incidents remained the most frequent fatal event in 2017 with 2,077 (40 percent) occupational fatalities.”
Meanwhile, according to the agency, “Contact with objects and equipment incidents were down 9 percent (695 in 2017 from 761 in 2016) with caught in running equipment or machinery deaths down 26 percent (76 in 2017 from 103 in 2016).
Epoch Times reporter Jack Philips contributed to this report.
