Santa Paula Man Electrocuted at Job Site
A 32-year-old Santa Paula man was electrocuted while attempting to repair a conveyor belt at an El Rio milling company, the Ventura County coroner’s office said Thursday.
Bryan Rieder was pronounced dead at 2:37 p.m. Wednesday at St. John’s Regional Medical Center after being shocked with an unknown amount of electrical voltage, Senior Deputy Coroner Jim Wingate said.
Rieder, who is survived by his parents, two brothers and a sister, was called to the SP Milling Co. on Tuesday to repair a conveyor belt, Wingate said.
He apparently completed work on the belt Tuesday, but by Wednesday it had short-circuited again, the coroner said.
Rieder was called back to the milling company about 1 p.m. Wednesday, and an employee found him unconscious by an electrical junction box about 90 minutes later, Wingate said.
Rieder worked for his father, Andrew Rieder, owner of Foothill Electrical of Santa Paula, which had been contracted to repair the conveyor belt, Wingate said.
Officials at SP Milling brought in an outside electrical company, Oil Field Electric Co. of Ventura, to determine what went wrong, the coroner said.
The case also is under investigation by Cal/OSHA as a matter of routine.
The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department has ruled out foul play in the death, Wingate said.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
