The USA Division of Exertions (DOL) is looking for lend a hand with the investigation of the loss of life of a teenage worker on the Mar-Jac Poultry plant in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
On July 14, Duvan Tomas Perez died at the process, the place he was once reportedly engaging in sanitation operations. Family of Perez stated he was once a 16-year-old Guatemalan immigrant and heart college pupil.
On the time, Mar-Jac mentioned that the DOL Occupational Protection and Well being Management (OSHA) is investigating the incident and that the corporate was once totally cooperating.
OSHA and DOL’s Salary and Hour Department have opened place of job protection and kid hard work investigations on the plant. OSHA has bought a warrant from the U.S. District Court docket for the Southern District of Mississippi to realize get entry to to the plant to behavior its investigation, and the warrant additionally lets in federal officers to query any any employer, operator, agent or worker privately and to study information associated with the operation and upkeep of the apparatus concerned within the incident.
“As federal investigators proceed to take a look at to know how a 16-year-old died on the Mar-Jac Poultry plant in Hattiesburg, we’re asking present Mar-Jac staff for his or her help,” stated OSHA Space Director Courtney Bohannon stated in a press unencumber. “Federal legislation protects the rights of staff to take part in a U.S. Division of Exertions investigation and forbids employers from interfering by any means, together with by means of retaliating towards an worker who does. With lend a hand from Mar-Jac’s staff, we will be able to make sure that the employer supplies a more secure surroundings for everybody who works there.”
Following the loss of life of Perez, Mar-Jac’s Hattiesburg Advanced Supervisor Joe Colee stated in a press unencumber: “Our staff are our Most worthy asset and protection is our No. 1 precedence. We try day by day to paintings as safely as imaginable and are really devastated each time an worker is injured.”
The corporate additionally mentioned that it was once blind to the sufferer’s age, and that he was once employed by means of a staffing corporate which Mar-Jac didn’t establish.
To beef up the investigations, OSHA representatives are operating carefully with local people teams to ascertain believe with staff and their households.
OSHA has reportedly requested any individual who works on the Hattiesburg plant this is keen to respond to questions associated with the investigation to name the company at +1.855.321.2742 or +1.601.965.4646.
Someone wishing to give you the Salary and Hour Department with related knowledge is inspired to name +1.866.487.9243.
Different fatalities at Hattiesburg plant
The loss of life of Perez marks the 3rd fatality to happen on the Hattiesburg plant in contemporary historical past. On December 15, 2020, Joel Velasco Toto died after an incident within the plant’s battery converting room. Police stated that incident befell because of horseplay.
Then, on Would possibly 31, 2021, Bobby Butler was once killed whilst operating with evisceration equipment in the plant.
The Hattiesburg poultry plant has been part of Mar-Jac Poultry’s operations since 2014, when the corporate bought the previous property of poultry integrator Marshall Durbin, situated in Alabama and Mississippi in 2014.
Mar-Jac Poultry, in step with the WATTPoultry.com Most sensible Poultry Corporations Database, is the 15th greatest poultry manufacturer in the US, having processed 15.88 million kilos of ready-to-cook hen on a weekly foundation throughout the previous 12 months.