Lightning does not strike a single place twice, but death has no such compunction. It struck a second time at a poultry processing plant in Mississippi, claiming a 16-year-old’s life.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, inadequate safety standards at the plant led to the tragedy. The deceased’s name is Duvan Perez, and he was a sanitation worker.
His demise is the second fatality to occur at the facility in over two years. It happened on July 14, 2023, during a workplace accident at the Mar-Jac Poultry processing facility in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
Perez had been cleaning equipment when he was pulled into the rotating shaft of a machine, sustaining fatal injuries. Subsequent investigation revealed that the facility did not follow proper “lockout/tagout” procedures.
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Such procedures are in place to protect employees from a sudden energization or startup of machines and equipment. And perhaps may have prevented the death of the boy.
According to OSHA, there was no evidence of (Lockout/tagout) procedures in use to disconnect power to the machine or prevent the machine from unintentionally starting during the cleaning. OSHA cited Mar-Jac Poultry with 14 “serious” and three “other-than-serious” violations and slammed them with a $212,646 fine.
On a separate note, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is looking into whether the facility or its subcontractor is in violation of child labor laws. Federal child labor laws prohibit anyone under the age of 18 from working at any meat-processing plant.
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“Mar-Jac Poultry is aware of how dangerous the machinery they use can be when safety standards are not in place to prevent serious injury and death,” OSHA Regional Administrator Kurt Petermeyer in Atlanta said. “The company’s inaction has directly led to this terrible tragedy, which has left so many to mourn this child’s preventable death.”
The death of Perez quickly made national headlines, sparking criticism from activists and federal officials. An unnamed staffing agency hired Perez while using the identity of a 32-year-old man.
Following the tragedy, Mar-Jac Poultry claimed not to know Perez was a minor until after the incident. The company said it contracts with staffing companies to fill positions at its facilities.
The agreement requires those third parties to verify job applicants are legally qualified to work. The fatal incident led to the Department of Labor investigating how Mar-Jac Poultry hired Perez. And a separate OSHA investigation into the incident itself.
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Meanwhile, this is the second time OSHA has cited Mar-Jac Poultry. The first time was in 2021, and it involved an employee pulled into a machine, just like Perez. The employee’s shirt sleeve got caught in the machine, causing it to pull them in, pinning the body against the support and the machine’s carousel, causing fatal injuries.
“Following the fatal incident in May 2021, Mar-Jac Poultry should have enforced strict safety standards in its facility,” Petermeyer said in the statement.
“Only about two years later, nothing has changed, and the company continues to treat employee safety as an afterthought, putting its workers at risk. No worker should be placed in a preventable, dangerous situation, let alone a child.”
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