Fatal freight elevator accident at Pilgrim’s plant

A man was killed in a freight elevator accident on January 6 at a Pilgrim’s Pride poultry polant in Guntersville, Alabama.

Roy Graber Headshot
(Pro100Dzu | Bigstock)
(Pro100Dzu | Bigstock)

A man was killed in a freight elevator accident on January 6 at a Pilgrim’s Pride poultry plant in Guntersville, Alabama.

Guntersville Fire Chief Brian Waldrop told the Sand Mountain Reporter that emergency crews responded at 8:33 a.m., to the facility.

The man, identified as Gabriel Seth Brutley, had apparently fallen three floors with the elevator, a forklift and a pallet of goods. When the fire department arrived, Waldrop said, Brutley did not have a pulse, was not breathing and had some visible head trauma. Several attempts to resuscitate him were not successful.

Pilgrim’s Pride spokesperson Nikki Richardson issued the following statement from the company: “Pilgrim’s is saddened to report the accidental death of Gabriel “Seth” Brutley, 36, on Monday, Jan. 6, due to an incident at our production facility in Guntersville, Ala. We are cooperating with our partners in local law enforcement and OSHA to determine the exact cause of death.

"We are working to meet the family’s immediate needs and have made a chaplain available to provide support and assistance to both them and our fellow team members. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Brutley family during this difficult time. Out of respect for the family, we will not provide further comment at this time.”

The Guntersville facility was also the site of a fire in October 2018. That fire was caused by a mechanical issue, which led to an ammonia leak.

The same plant was also the recipient of a 2018 Clean Water Award from the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association (USPOULTRY) in the pretreatment category.

The Guntersville plant processes about 300,000 birds per day.

Pilgrim’s Pride, according to the WATTAgNet Top Poultry Companies Database, is the second largest broiler company in the United States. In 2018, the company processed 156.02 million pounds of ready-to-cook chicken on a weekly basis.

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