The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is investigating a drowning that occurred earlier this month at a Pitman Family Farms facility in Sanger, California.
A report on the OSHA website reveals little detail about the incident, but an inspection was opened on May 6, the same day the incident occurred. The case status is listed as “open.”
The victim, according to a report from the Fresno Bee, has been identified as Jesus “Chuy” Salazar, 66. A police report obtained by the Bee stated that Salazar was assigned to check pipes around an indoor poultry waste pit, measuring 14 feet wide, 18 feet long and as deep as 25 feet.
A co-worker had apparently noticed Salazar was missing, so a supervisor notified police, expressing worries that he had maybe fallen into the pit. The Fresno County Coroner’s Office determined that the cause of Salazar’s death was drowning.
Family members and co-workers remembered Salazar as a great family man and a kind and generous person.
Pitman Family Farms is the seventeenth largest turkey producer in the United States, having slaughtered 107 million pounds of live turkeys during the past year. In addition to its turkey operations, Pitman Family Farms produces specialty organic and free-range chicken, ducks and geese, according to the WATTPoultry.com Top Poultry Companies Database.
The company was founded in 1954.
