2 deaths from a machine starting up during maintenance? Plant needed to be shut down after the first one.
Who the hell doesn’t have lock out procedures for deadly machinery?
This is the South. OSHA is communism.
You would be shocked. People at my plant are bitching non-stop because the new owners eant to implement lock out
Supervisors who don’t want to get fired for not meeting unreasonable quotas.
the teenager, who immigrated to Mississippi from Guatemala years ago.
The child labor problem is actually an immigration issue. These companies know they can hire migrant children to do dangerous work because they think their parents will stay in the shadows out of fear of deportation. I’m glad one mother is fighting back anyway.
https://www.npr.org/2023/05/04/1173697113/immigrant-child-labor-crisis
The child labor problem is actually an immigration issue.
Louder for the people in the back, please. It seems a lot of people are missing this.
In July, Duvan became the third worker to die in less than three years at the Hattiesburg, Mississippi, plant owned by Mar-Jac, a Georgia-based poultry production company.
In 2020, 33-year-old Joel Velasco Toto died after a co-worker “inserted an air-compression hose into his rectum,” the lawsuit says. In 2021, 48-year-old Bobby Butler died after becoming entangled in a machine he was cleaning.
This doesn’t sound like a great place to work.
WTF are these fucking malicious assholes thinking? Compressed shop air can be at hundreds of PSI and a small nozzle that can fit up an ass will turn it almost into a knife.
I hope that sick bastard caught a murder charge.
People associate air under pressure with bicycle tires because they’re ignorant.
https://youtu.be/xnyh78wjZ1o?si=YPtArwFgzWAliuSV
video for people who spell tires with a “y”:
I’ve got to find out what happened after work today.
There’s no evidence the murderer was charged, although there is some evidence it may have been manslaughter, not murder.
Article about Bobby’s death, which also discusses how Joel’s death has not gotten any updates since.
If it was possible the entire company should be charged with negligent homicide and dissolved for these kinds of patterns, but they probably will get fined or pay a settlement, so it’s just a cost of doing business.
At my work place, with a shop full of dangerous equipment, 20 years ago a person was killed using a lathe and we still hear about it and have extensive safety procedures specifically because of that, and no one else has died or been critically injured since.
Jurgis recollected how, when he had first come to Packingtown, he had stood and watched the hog-killing, and thought how cruel and savage it was, and come away congratulating himself that he was not a hog; now his new acquaintance showed him that a hog was just what he had been-one of the packers’ hogs. What they wanted from a hog was all the profits that could be got out of him; and that was what they wanted from the workingman, and also that was what they wanted from the public. What the hog thought of it, and what he suffered, were not considered; and no more was it with labor, and no more with the purchaser of meat. That was true everywhere in the world, but it was especially true in Packingtown; there seemed to be something about the work of slaughtering that tended to ruthlessness and ferocity-it was literally the fact that in the methods of the packers a hundred human lives did not balance a penny of profit.
- Upton Sinclair, The Jungle
Published over a century ago and tragically still relevant.
In 7th grade a friend read that book for class, he was normally a very cheerful and joking sort of guy. After a few days of reading it he suddenly had the most serious and somber demeanor I had seen for a 7th grader.
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My friend used to work there, said he quit because working conditions were shit. He also said there were a bunch of people who couldn’t speak any English (he’s not racist, he said he assumed they were illegals being exploited)
Gotta love Hattiesburg
Isn’t the mother also partially responsible for letting her son work there?
I understand where you’re coming from here, but we’re experiencing a spike in homelessness across the country, driven by an affordability crisis when it comes to housing.
This does not mean the parent wanted to put the child to work. Some families literally have no choice, they already are working two jobs themselves, and don’t have enough money to get by. If rent keeps increasing but their pay doesn’t, they need to find a way to get more income to keep a roof over their head. If she’s a single mom, getting attached to a man can be a dangerous thing, and so relying on someone else can be more dangerous long-term than relying on your kids.
Also, finally, most states allow teenagers as young as 16 to work, there are just limitations to how much they can work and what kind of jobs they can do.
Let’s not blame parents who are literally struggling to keep a roof over their heads and aren’t breaking the law as it’s legal for a 16-year-old to work. Especially immigrant parents who are at a disadvantage in our justice system and at a disadvantage economically.
The thing that I’m a little shocked by is that I would assume work in a poultry plant would be considered work that’s “too dangerous” for a 16-year-old. Once again, it’s not the responsibility to the parent to be ensuring that every business their child could work for is following the law, especially when their child is old enough to work. Letting teenagers work dangerous jobs is a choice by the person who owns the business, and they absolutely have culpability in that. Far more culpability than a parent who apparently can’t just assume a business will follow OSHA rules, let alone other laws.
You victim blaming?
Are you saying that the parent isn’t also responsible to ensure that their child works in a safe place?
Fuck no. What a stupid thing to suggest. My mommy didn’t come to my work when I was 16 because she assumed that in America we don’t have such abhorrent conditions to necessitate a visit.
Are you the type of person that needs your mommy to look over all the things you do?
Wow, so edgy. And angry. Whatever is going on with you has nothing to do with my comment. Seems you are just discovering that life sucks and that the system is rigged.
I’m the edgy one? 🙄 How’s fifth grade?
And direct to the personal attack. You must be insecure.
I’m just punching down to your level! Too much? Want mommy?
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I don’t think you understand the leopards eating faces meme.
This comment said:
Woman Sues Leopard for Eating 16-year-old Son’s Face
FTFY
Wouldn’t a parent have some responsibility to know and understand where their minor child was working
I don’t see any claims in the article that said the parent were unaware where their child was working. It would appear what they were unaware of was the failure to follow laws and regulations.
I just have a hard time believing the mother didn’t actually know. The ultimate responsibility is obviously on the company, who should follow safety practices and follow the laws.
But hey, this is america get your cash money.
Didn’t know what? That lock out wasn’t being followed?
That her son was working illegally at a poultry plant.
Illegally? Some states in US-of-fucking-A are letting kids work. Pretty sure Mississippi is on that list.
But hey, this is america get your cash money.
Yes, I’m sure this is actually about the money for her, and not an attempt to ensure the company is punished in some way for her son’s death. Grieving parents are famously more concerned with payouts than making sure negligence that killed their children doesn’t happen again. /s
The responsibility for a safe working environment is entirely on the company here, and if they have failed to provide it they should be held liable and pay damages.
I can’t disagree with anything you just said personally or socially or whatever
I am just suggesting that it’s worse than it appears. Parents have to let their children work under illegal conditions just to make sure they can have a reliable car.
Edit: she deserves dozens of millions of dollars this company is brazenly breaking the law
I’m sure if the parent had just asked the company if they were a shit hole place to work none of this would have happened!
I think this is the same child who submitted an Id for a 32 year old
Some? Sure. But that doesn’t absolve the businesses responsibility to safety.
But then the rich owners might not make as much money. Let’s get our priorities straight, here. /s
No it’s clearly the fucking job creator’s fault for not creating him a job at the cash register at the Chick-fil-A instead of the slaughterhouse
#victimblaming
Not my intention but I see and hear your point
This is not an unreasonable question and you do not deserve to be downvoted for asking it. I can’t imagine what is up people’s bonnets today.
If you read the comments, it’s because this sort of thing should never happen in the US. Lots of parents let their kids get jobs at 16, because they believe working conditions are safe because we’re supposed to have things like OSHA.
Blaming the victim and his mom instead of the company that killed a teen is just slimy, no matter how you look at it.
I am confused by the assertion that this should not happen in the US. Are people really naive? Did the suck up all the propaganda in high school and experience shock suddenly? Man, this country is evil and it is so on purpose. States are allowing children to work in these positions.
The US is owned by the wealthy, and they care about nothing but profit, but this type of accident is so easily avoidable, it shouldn’t happen anywhere in the modern era. Even the most exploitative and cruel entrepreneur shouldn’t be allowing workers to die in this way, even with a heartless perspective it is a cost that should be avoided for a business.
Pushing workers to the breaking point over time makes sense to me from the ‘evil employer’ perspective but I can’t see it doing any good to allow them to die this way. People won’t be so outraged over long-term disability from horrible conditions, but their sons dying is the sort of thing to push people to make lasting change.
