Golden State Foods bakery worker killed at robotic box sorter in Industry

What happened

Golden State Foods, an Irvine-based supplier to McDonald’s, operated a bakery on South Sixth Avenue in City of Industry, east of Los Angeles. Sheriff’s detectives were called there at 7:50 a.m. on Tuesday, July 21, 2009, and a 40-year-old employee was pronounced dead at 8:22 a.m. The Associated Press reported that she was found dead in a machine and that investigators believed the death was accidental.

The San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported that the machine was a robotic box sorter. A Cal/OSHA spokeswoman told the newspaper that, according to a report completed by the company’s safety supervisor, the worker was removing a jammed package when she was crushed between a conveyor belt and a robot arm.

The system involved

Public reports describe the equipment only as a robotic box sorter with a robot arm working alongside a conveyor. The manufacturer and model were not reported, and it is not known how the cell was guarded or whether it was running in automatic mode when the worker reached in.

Investigation and response

Cal/OSHA opened an investigation after receiving a complaint. The agency said investigations can take up to six months and that citations and fines would follow if it found violations. It noted that the bakery had not been cited in the previous five years and had recorded no fatalities in that period.

Golden State Foods chairman and chief executive Mark Wetterau said in a statement that the company was working closely with the authorities and Cal/OSHA as they investigated.

What is not established

The description of how the worker was caught comes from the employer’s own report as relayed by Cal/OSHA at the start of its investigation. The outcome of the Cal/OSHA investigation, including any citations or penalties, was not verified for this entry.