Bumble Bee Foods, which is best known for its eponymous canned tuna line, has agreed to pay $6 million to settle criminal charges after an employee was killed in an industrial oven.
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Co-workers who were unaware that Melena, 62, was still inside the apparatus then packed 12,000 pounds (5,443 kg) of canned tuna inside, closed the door and turned it on. Bumble Bee must also pay $750,000 to the district attorney’s Environmental Enforcement Fund. Another $750,000 will pay for fines, penalties and court costs. He must also pay $19,000 in fines and penalty assessments.
The payout will include $3 million to replace all outdated tuna ovens at Bumble Bee Foods with new ovens that do not require workers to set food inside. If found to be in compliance, Rodriguez will be allowed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor in 18 months, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Melena, who had worked for Bumble Bee for about six years, crawled into the 35-foot-long (11-meter) cylindrical pressure cooker on October. 11, 2012 as part of his duties.
During the two-hour heat sterilization process, the oven’s internal temperature rose to about 270 degrees, the DA’s office had previously said.
Prosecutors also charged two managers with three counts of violating OSHA rules, which led to Melena’s death.
The state’s occupational safety agency previously cited the San Diego-based company for failing to properly assess the danger to employees working in large ovens and fined it $74,000. The plant’s director of operations, Angel Rodriguez, must pay $11,400 and complete 320 hours of community service. Ovens will get video cameras installed, and managers and workers will be required to get safety training.
Once it complies with those conditions, Bumble Bee, which is owned by private equity firm Lion Capital LLP, will be allowed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge, according to the district attorney’s office. He was sentenced to three years of probation, 30 days of community labor and must take safety classes on lockout tagout and confined spaces. If he complies with the terms of his plea within 18 months, his conviction may be reduced to a misdemeanor count.
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Melena’s family, in a statement released shortly after the settlement was announced in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom, thanked the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, criminal investigator Brian Baudendistel and Chun “for ensuring that safe work practices are implemented at Bumble Bee to make it a safe work environment for the employees that work hard to provide to their families”.
