BY Christopher Lang, Correspondent, @topherlang2 | MonroeNow | Jul 3, 2018
SOUTH BRUNSWICK – A federal department is investigating a workplace injury on Friday that resulted in a female employee having her arm crushed in a machine at a warehouse, according to a news release from the South Brunswick Police Department.
The unidentified, 50-year-old female worker from Edison sustained “serious arm injuries,” and was transported to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick for treatment after she was freed by Monmouth Junction firefighters.
The Monmouth Junction Fire Department along with South Brunswick EMS and police responded to the emergency call on Friday around 7:30 a.m. from the Sunny Delight Beverage Company warehouse on Corn Road in the Dayton section of the township.
According to the report, while cleaning the machine the worker reached in to remove a bottle and the machine activated crushing her arm and trapping her. Firefighters were able to cut the power to the machine and stabilize it before free the worker.
It took firefighters approximately 25 minutes to free the employee, according to the police release. Firefighters, the report said, used high-pressure airbags and wooden wedges to “separate the machinery from the woman’s arm.”
“The rescue was a result of a total team effort,” Monmouth Junction Fire Chief Scott Smith said. “It took time to stabilize the machine and then inflate the air bags to the point we could free her arm.”
As is protocol, the United States Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration has opened an investigation into the incident.
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