A Noise From Meat Grinder, Then a Horrifying Scene

Worker killed Monday in Pennsylvania meat-processing facility
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 24, 2019 9:30 AM CDT
A Noise From Meat Grinder, Then a Horrifying Scene
An industrial meat grinder is shown here.   (Getty Images/Salomonus_)

"This was a horrible accident" seems an understatement considering how a plant worker died Monday in Pennsylvania. Lycoming County Coroner Charles E. Kiessling Jr. said 35-year-old Jill Greninger fell or was pulled to her death inside a large commercial meat grinder she was operating at Economy Locker Storage Co. in Pennsdale around 11:40am, per PennLive and the Williamsport Sun-Gazette. Greninger, who died instantly of massive trauma, was standing on a rolling staircase "as she was perhaps reaching for something in the grinder, which was about 6 feet off the ground," Kiessling said. A fellow employee heard a noise and went to investigate, turning off the machine before calling for help.

This is the first reported death at the facility, which has been in business since the early 1900s, per WNEP. PennLive describes Economy Locker Storage Co. as a wholesale meat-processing business, with products sold under the brand Country Store. "Everyone is shaken and thinks that this is a tragedy that something like this had to happen to such a young lady," a neighbor tells WNEP. "My heart goes out to everyone who is affected by this." Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigators have been to the scene, where firefighters spent 45 minutes breaking down the meat grinder so Greninger's body could be recovered. (Earlier this year, a worker in Michigan fell into a vat of acid.)

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