16-year-old caught in machine dies at poultry plant, feds say. Investigation underway
A 16-year-old worker died at a Mississippi poultry plant, and now there’s a federal labor investigation into the circumstances of his death, officials say.
The teen died “when he became entangled in machinery he was cleaning” on July 14 at the Mar-Jac Poultry MS LLC plant in Hattiesburg, the food supplier wrote in a July 19 news release published online by WDAM-TV.
Now investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor want to know whether workplace safety and child labor violations resulted in the young worker’s death, the agency said in a Sept. 11 news release.
Mar-Jac Poultry was unaware the employee was a minor until his fatal injury, according to the company’s news release.
“It appears now that this worker was less than 18 years of age and should not have been hired,” Mar-Jac Poultry wrote in the release.
Officials are seeking help from the employee’s co-workers in their investigation, the Department of Labor said in its news release.
Employees under 18 aren’t allowed to work any job deemed hazardous by the Department of Labor, including working at poultry plants where meat is processed.
The agency’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has obtained a warrant from federal court in Mississippi that allows investigators to visit the Hattiesburg poultry plant, according to officials.
The warrant also allows investigators to interview “any employer, operator, agent or employee privately and to review records related to the operation and maintenance of the equipment involved in the incident,” officials said.
McClatchy News contacted Mar-Jac Poultry for comment on Sept. 12 and didn’t receive an immediate response.
“As federal investigators continue to try to understand how a 16-year-old died at the Mar-Jac Poultry plant in Hattiesburg, we are asking current Mar-Jac employees for their assistance,” OSHA Area Director Courtney Bohannon in Jackson, Mississippi, said in a statement. “Federal law protects the rights of workers to participate in a U.S. Department of Labor investigation and forbids employers from interfering in any way, including by retaliating against an employee who does.”
Since 2020, there have been three machinery-related deaths at the Hattiesburg plant, including the 16-year-old’s death, USA Today reported.
Child labor laws protect workers from tragedies
Under federal law, employees under 18 are banned from operating power-driven meat processing machines, including meat slicers, according to the Department of Labor, which says they’re also banned from cleaning these machines.
“Child labor laws exist to safeguard young workers from tragedies like the one that happened at the Mar-Jac Poultry plant,” Wage and Hour Division District Director Audrey Hall said in the news release.
In Mar-Jac Poultry’s release regarding the 16-year-old employee’s death, the company said it “would never knowingly put any employee, and certainly not a minor, in harm’s way.”
The company said it appeared the employee’s age and identity “were misrepresented” on his hiring paperwork, according to the release.
The Department of Labor is asking Mar-Jac Poultry plant employees in Hattiesburg to confidentially contact OSHA at 855-321-6742 or the Jackson Area Office at 601-965-4606 with any information that may be relevant to their investigation. A confidential complaint can also be submitted here.
Hattiesburg is about 90 miles southeast of Jackson.
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