WILMINGTON : Recycling Center Operators to Pay $100,000 in Death
Operators of a Wilmington recycling center where a worker was crushed to death were ordered Wednesday to pay $100,000 after pleading no contest to negligently violating industrial safety rules.
The case against Regenesis Recycling and Falcon Refuse grew out of the death of Francisco Sanchez last year at the wood and paper recycling reclamation center the companies operate on I Street.
Sanchez, 46, was repairing a portion of a conveyor belt when another worker inadvertently pushed a button that turned on the belt. Sanchez was crushed to death.
The plant’s repair procedures were never discussed with the victim or the other workers before the accident, said Deputy City Atty. Maria Perez Manning.
An attorney for the companies entered the no contest plea to knowing and negligent conduct constituting a serious offense for failing to use blocking procedures during the repair of moving machinery.
Los Angeles Municipal Judge Abraham Kahn ordered each company to pay $13,500 in fines and penalties and to make charitable donations totaling $73,000, which will be divided equally between Mothers of East Los Angeles and Wilmington’s Mothers Against Gangs, Manning said.
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