On Monday, April 27, 2015 at 5:35:34 PM UTC-10, Travis McGee wrote:
> Bumble Bee Foods, 2 others charged after employee died in pressure cooker
>
> An employee burned to death inside an industrial pressure cooker at the
> Bumble Bee Foods plant in Santa Fe Springs in 2012.
> By Matt Hamilton contact the reporter
>
> Bumble Bee Foods and two of the tuna company's employees were charged
> Monday with willfully ignoring safety rules, leading to a plant worker
> burning to death inside an industrial pressure cooker in 2012,
> prosecutors said.
>
> The San Diego-based company, former safety manager Saul Florez, and
> Angel Rodriguez, the director of plant operations, were each charged
> with three felony counts of committing an occupational safety and health
> violation that caused a death, according to the Los Angeles County
> district attorney's office.
>
> On Oct. 11, 2012, Jose Melena, 62, entered a 35-foot oven at the
> company's Santa Fe Springs plant to make a repair inside the machine,
> which is used to sterilize thousands of cans of tuna at a time.
>
> Unaware that Melena was inside the oven, other plant workers loaded
> several carts that altogether held about 12,000 pounds of tuna, shut the
> door and turned on the oven, prosecutors said.
>
> Temperatures peaked at around 270 degrees, and Melena cooked to death,
> prosecutors said. His charred remains were found by another plant worker.
>
> In a statement, the company said it disagrees with and is "disappointed
> by the charges" filed by Los Angeles prosecutors. The company described
> Melena's death as a "tragic accident" and noted that an investigation by
> the California Division of Occupational Safety & Health "found no
> willful violations related to the accident.
>
> Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey said in a statement that the
> charges against Bumble Bee Foods are part of her goal of enhancing the
> prosecution of workplace safety issues.
>
> "We take worker safety very seriously," Lacey said. "Although the Bumble
> Bee investigation began in 2012, this case represents our commitment to
> protecting workers from illegal -- and, potentially, deadly --
> on-the-job practices."
>
> Rodriguez, 63, remains employed by the company. It's unclear when
> Florez, 42, stopped working for Bumble Bee. Rodriguez, Florez and the
> company are scheduled to be arraigned May 27.
>
> If convicted, Rodriguez and Florez each face up to three years in prison
> and a $250,000 fine. The company could be fined up to $1.5 million.

Pressure cookers are safe, people just think they're dangerous. The working pressure is less than half that of a passenger car tire. OTOH, the ones that you can walk into are a whole 'nother story. OTOH, I could have a lot of fun with something like that.