German boiled alive

[tomm2thumbs]

Source: Straits Times

click title for story

Read more: http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/World/Story/STIStory_378277.html

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I placed the excerpt below so that those who don't want their Sunday evening defined by this don't have to see it on the main page.


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BERLIN - A GERMAN worker was boiled alive in an empty industrial-sized soup vat while trying to clean it, tabloid newspaper Bild reported on Sunday.

The 36-year-old, named only as Markus, was scrubbing the 2m-high pot when the lid accidentally closed, automatically starting the jets of boiling water used to disinfect vegetables. 'For reasons we have still not cleared up, the disinfection process started too soon,' a police spokesman told the paper. By the time the unfortunate worker was found, he was already dead, Bild reported.

The factory in Luebeck in northern Germany, which employs around 200 people, has been 'provisionally closed,' according to its owners, Erasco - a subsidiary of US soup-maker Campbell's. -- AFP


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Subsidiary of Campbell's soup.

When Union safety issues and other benefits of Unions are dismissed as frivolous, incidents like this remind us of the importance that safety has on individual workers' lives. So horrid and unbelievable that this could happen in today's world - with technology we have before us.

[jgraz]

1. So you're saying we should avoid Campbell's German Potato Soup for a while...

[Tangerine LaBamba]

2. That's about as horrible

as anything can be.

That poor, poor man.

Things there will change, but, alas, too late for Markus.................

[ThomCat]

7. This is why unions are important. Unions are the single greatest

guarantee we have that workers will have safe work environments and that safety regulations will be followed.

If only some safety regulations were in place to prevent this death... :(

Automation is always seen as a good thing, and often it is, but when you rush to take human judgment out of every possible situation it's sometimes an invitation for accidents and problems.

I hope his death was so quick that he didn't suffer much. What a horrible situation. :(

[w4rma]

9. There is no way that was quick. (nt)

[Tangerine LaBamba]

14. You're preaching to the choir here .......

My mother worked in a dress factory, and I went on strikes with her and her ILGWU buddies, walking picket lines and singing. I can still belt out "Look For The Union Label," after all these years.

My father worked in the Post Office, and his union membership brought us excellent health insurance and a lot of other things. He never went on strike, but, in our house, we were union all the way.

I am proud of the part I played in the destruction of Frank Lorenzo, who was the person most responsible for the breaking of unions here in the United States back in the very early 1980s. He should rot in Hell ......................

[ThomCat]

16. Many people here are in the choir. Yes.

:)

Unfortunately, there are a surprising number of people here who have argued that unions are corrupt, historical remnants, harming the economy, or bad for workers somehow. It's always surprising how vehement the anti-union sentiment can be.

I wish we were all in the choir. I have managed union and non-union workers and I firmly belief that union workers are worth ever dollar. Unions have been good organizations more often than not that did a lot of good things. :)

[paulsby]

23. unions are neither all good nor all bad

unions are advocates for a side. that's a good thing.

i'm a proud union member. been one a LONG time.

i don't pretend unions always fight for THE GOOD (tm). they fight for their constituents.

and they offer collective strength and an opposing viewpoint to idiotic management (tm).

[Downwinder]

22. Lorenzo made bankruptcy a business plan. n/t

[BreweryYardRat]

43. Boiling water/steam would not have been quick.

Poor bastard.

Hopefully they'll install a shut-down mechanism on the inside of the tanks after this.

[Psephos]

47. Germany is about as worker-protective as a country gets. This is not a union issue.

This is a lock-out/tag-out (LOTO) issue. There is no chance that the German plant didn't have a zero-energy lock-out program for that machine.

If you aren't familiar with safety LOTO, google up. It's universal in heavy manufacturing plants in the US, Germany, Japan, and the rest of the first world.

[azurnoir]

3. Something similar happened here in Mn a few years ago

a hospital lab worker was inside a walk-in autoclave when it started it cycle during which the doors close and lock, the outcome of the investigation was not made public that I know of.
For both people what a horrible way to die.

[Mojambo]

4. That's a pretty goddamn rough way to go. n/t

[Jeep789]

5. Awful, just awful nt

[MADem]

6. Doesn't that sound like a SIX FEET UNDER episode beginning? NT

[Duer 157099]

17. Definitely n/t

[Divine Discontent]

8. that poor man... thank God it went fast. I get nauseous just thinking for a second

what hell that would be, no one deserves that - my prayers for his family.


Ya think you people at the factory wanna put some emergency controls on the thing?


I LOVE UNIONS, think of the travesties that would have occurred over the past 100 years without them!!!!!

[w4rma]

11. Fast? No, steam jets don't kill fast. (nt)

[Divine Discontent]

13. ooh... I went through the story so fast on purpose (horrifying but was sad for him) that I didn't

let that compute - yeah, that's horrible... what a bizarre and ridiculous death, surely they could come up with something that can clean those things from above with a long handle?

[vaberella]

10. That's awful. My heart goes out to his family. n/t

[juno jones]

12. Similar things have happened at the ADM plant in Decatur , IL

to workmen who had to go inside the tanks to clean them.

Yes, we need strong unions.

[tomm2thumbs]

15. Cheney would judge this upon whether it got actionable intelligence or not...

I guess I had better not give these idiots any ideas.

[New Dawn]

18. Neo-liberal economics kills.

His blood is on right-winger Merkel's hands.

[Cleita]

19. Terrible accident, however, It seems when my DH and I were traveling

around the northwest, there were regular accidents of workers on the graveyard shift in lumber mills getting caught in the wood chippers when they were trying to clean them. It seems both deaths are equally horrific. I often wondered why our wonderful media never picked up on these stories outside of the locality that they happened in.

[Vehl]

20. this is horrible

yep..i agree...Unions and much stringent safety laws/precautions should be used/enacted.

[sce56]

21. Interesting where I work we don't call this a Union problem rather a LOTO problem!

Before I can work on anything that has the potential to hurt me it has to be locked out unless I'm troubleshooting it but all forms of potential energy must be locked out and that could be Electrical, steam, water, air, ammonia, gas etc etc. Safety is nothing to play around with. When in doubt Lock it out!

[jmowreader]

24. I was thinking the same thing

Germany has very good worker protection regulations--in some ways better than the US--and the first thing the German version of OSHA is going to do during the investigation is ask for the company's lockout/tagout policy. The SECOND thing they're going to do is ask why it wasn't being enforced.

Bad war story follows: At one of my former employers we locked out a printing press on Friday to do some work on it. The work wasn't done before the end of shift, so we left the press locked out. Over the weekend the person who applied the lock was killed by a drunk driver. While highly tragic and sad for his family, his friends and his co-workers, it also meant we had to call OSHA to get them to send in an inspector so we could legally unlock the press! According to OSHA's lockout/tagout regulation, ONLY the person who applies the lock can remove it, and he was dead. Needless to say, we quickly developed a new policy--maintenance work continues until the lock can be removed

[WriteDown]

34. Actually...

Germany has AMAZING worker protections. It could be something as simple as some sort of electrical short to something more diabolical like someone activated the sequence. The investigation will be interesting.

[xchrom]

25. i thought this was going to be a recipe. nt

[LeftHander]

26. EEeeeeeee HE HE HEH HEH HEH......

[sce56]

30. I really don't see anything funny at all in this thread! No laughs here RIP!

[Politicub]

27. Thought this was going to be about him having some intel about terra

After all, it wouldn't be torture - it would just be an exceedingly warm bath.

[Algorem]

28. at least he left a safe stiff.

the boys in the meat wagon probly didn't even have to wear gloves or masks or nothing when they picked him up.

[oldironside]

29. The Original Story

For those of you who are interested, I offer a translation of the original story in BILD, which you can find under...

http://www.bild.de/BILD/news/2009/05/15/mitarbeiter-bei-erasco-in-suppen-kessel/tot-gekocht.html

Please be aware that there are extra details here and that BILD has a very sensationalist style.

ACCIDENT IN LUEBECK
Erasco worker cooked to death in soup vat.

The Erasco preserved food factory in Luebeck has existed for more than fifty years. Delicious soups, stews and ready meals are delivered all over Germany from here.

Now the drama in a huge soup vat. A worker is inadvertently cooked to death.

It is shortly after 12 o'clock. The busiest time in the factory in Geniner Strasse. A worker climbs into a large high pressure vat. It is his task to clean it.

He is just scrubbing the floor when the lid of the vat closes above him. The man crouches in the dark. Seconds later hot steam sprays everywhere. The disinfection program for the high tech vat has been started too early. The 36 year old is totally cooked in the large soup vat.

An emergency doctor called to the scene can only confirm his death. Police spokesman Detlef Riedel said: "The Police Criminal Investigation Unit, along with the office for safety at work and the environmental troop of the Luebeck police have begun the investigation."

Now investigations are being carried out into death by criminal negligence.

"The circumstances whereby the accident happened are still not clear." said Riedel.

[chatnoir]

36. Thank you for the story/translation from Bild

How horrible for that poor, poor man. :(

[undeterred]

31. Don't let the Republicans hear about it.

All they need is another torture idea.

[tomm2thumbs]

46. that was what I was thinking

they have another excuse to 'have accidents' during interrogations

[struggle4progress]

32. A completely inexcusable accident

[WriteDown]

33. Are you really sure this is an accident?

I have my doubts.

[petronius]

39. That was my first thought, as well. I imagine that angle will be looked at... (nt)

[struggle4progress]

40. Exactly the same worker safety issues would be involved: absence or failure of alarms

giving the affected employee an opportunity to escape; absence or failure of adequate means to prevent closure of the vat lid and activation of the cycle when the vat is occupied

I don't know exactly how this happened -- but it's not hard to imagine redundant safety features that would reduce the possibility of such occurrences to zilch

[WriteDown]

41. I don't know...

Germany has excellent worker protections. When I used to work with heavy equipment and we were cleaning the machines, the power source was always the first thing disconnected whether it be electrical plug or spark plug. I just find it very odd that this machine actually remained powered up while it was being cleaned. Also, considering its the first incident ever of this type at this plant, it makes me even more anxious to see the results of the investigation.

[Blue_Tires]

35. sounds like an Upton Sinclair story...

[proteus_lives]

37. Horror Story.

Sounds like something out of EC comics.

RIP.

[AndyTiedye]

38. I Thought GERMANY Had Strong Unions and Good Worker Protection

[PassingFair]

42. His REAL name was Stew.

"The 36-year-old, named only as Markus...."

:hide:

[Arugula Latte]

44. Why are people making light of this horrific death? nt

[Generator]

45. Whew, I 'm glad this wasn't another act of torture Obama

was trying to cover up!