Bumble Bee Tuna Worker Cooked In Steam Machine

A tragically weird incident happened the morning of October 11th at a Santa Fe Springs Bumble Bee Tuna plant. 62-year-old Jose Melena was found dead in an industrial oven known as the “steamer machine.” It is still unclear how the worker of six years ended up in the cooker.

The Bumble Bee plant closed down directly after the discovery of Melena, and re-opened last Monday. The California Division of Occupational Safety & Health has yet to figure how it all happened and are in a full in a full investigation involving factory visits, safety document and interview reviews to decide if any health and safety violations did indeed happen. They hope the investigation is wrapped up in six month’s time.

I know im a little late with this news, but it was something that caught my attention, and kind of freaked me out. I can’t imagine going out that way. The Bumble Bee Company released a statement expressing their sorrow for the Melena family.

Something similar happened this last March when two men were trapped in an industrial oven for metal work and were burned alive. The investigation that followed that incident found that the two men were cleaning the oven and had not followed safety protocol leading up to their deaths. Read more on that at The Sun.

Even though what happened in March has been proved to be the fault of the men who lost their lives, I still think there is something fishy about what happened to Jose Melena, no pun intended. Pictured below is what one of the steamers looks like.