Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1470781.015 - Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Wichita Area Office

Investigation Summary

At 7:00 a.m. on March 23, 2020, an employee was working during a pre-op period. After the daily sanitation process was over, the Maintenance Team was bringing machinery back online prior to allowing cattle into slaughter. At the start of the shift, two Maintenance Team employees were at the knocking area to work on the counterbalance issue. There was a call over the radio that the belly belt was not working. Both of them are there in that area already, so they responded to that call. The Maintenance Team employees got separated since they both went on different ways to get to the belly belt area. The employee was on a work platform that required fall protection, harness hooked up to the railing. The employee was engaged in bringing equipment back online after daily sanitation when his fall protection harness was caught in the coupler between the drive motor and the drive shaft of the decline belt. He was standing on a work platform with the harness hooked to the railing, looking up to the belly belt when the harness got caught in the open sprocket chain, with no guard. The employee was killed.

Keywords: Caught In, Fall Protection, Suffocated, Unguarded