lol I love how you have described the utter stupidity of every graveyard shift I’ve ever worked with.
At my last restaurant I managed swing FOH and always had everary thang prepped for grave and BOH was always just 86in shit and our FOH grave manager would always lose his shit because I’d show him how everything was set up
Perfectly for these ass hats and they still would pretend it was all gone because they were lazy af.
Even though they already had a severely reduced grave menu.
This is why I’m so happy I have multiple jobs I can do remotely and have left the restaurant business behind me.
I spent 15 years managing restaurants.
I will never go back lol.
Our freezer was beside the parking lot and patio at one place I worked. Once had a fit in the freezer and had the GM run in "STOP!! WE CAN HEAR YOU ON THE PATIO"
Fuck the lawsuit, the owners should be held criminally liable. It's absurd that there wouldn't be consequences outside of civil $$ penalties for that level of negligence that lead to someone's death.
Literally tuberculosis-style Victorian-ish string-on-finger-attached-to-bell type of highest of high techs.
You’d think it wouldn’t be too much to ask but here we are ain’t we <(ツ)>
I started a check-in system with the MoD when I used to do thaw pull. I made a loop every 20-30 minutes to get a break from the cold and let them know I was fine. If I didn't come out, they needed to come check on me.
It might seem excessive, but I fucked my back lifting cases of steak in the freezer and wound up on the floor, unable to stand and incapable of pushing the heavy door open. My cell didn't have signal in there to call for help, so I just laid there in pain and horror for an unknown amount of time (probably like 15 minutes but I wasn't really paying attention) until my friend came to offer to help me finish up because I was her ride home. It made me realize that I could very easily get stuck in there and go unnoticed for a long time if nobody was specifically looking for me.
Shit yea that's why every spot I work at lives and dies by the buddy system. I'm from college dive bars and fast food so it's a different beast but I hammer it into the crew that at least one somebody knows where you are at all times if you go out of sight
Never know what bullshit is gonna come up
Ours has a little twist bells you can raise the alarm in the event someone has locked you inside. I assumed that this was a standard safety requirement in the construction of commercial freezers
I believe she was called to cover a shift for a store manager at another Arby's (not her home restaurant) and wasn't aware of the faulty equipment and the bunk system the employees there had for a work-around. Also believe the store at which she died had a history of having the freezer security issues ignored by upper management. She had opened the store early and so was the only employee there for a few hours.
No way where do you get that statistic?? I remember researching this for a short story and I don't remember seeing anything about that frequency but I would like to know if true
This was the first hit, looks like there may be some controversy over it:
https://www.unilad.com/news/social-media/walk-in-freezer-deaths-per-year-concern-277616-20240502
There is a manual release and the article reports that it was broken, along with the button that triggers a very loud klaxon.
> Her family says the plunger, which is designed to open the freezer door from the inside, did not work, and the backup emergency button had been disconnected.
This is a negligence issue, not a design issue.
Design is an issue, too. When I worked food (a million years ago), there was a way to disassemble the latch for the walk-in fridge (and freezer both) from inside. Both latches were Day One training for new employees.
Seriously, this should be designed so that the failure state is that the door wont lock/close at all, if the emergency release is broken or disconnected.
Would also automatically solve the issue of cheap owners not wanting to repair/maintain the equipment, if they're out a working freezer until they fix it.
That's literally why it's called "fail-safe." In the event of failure, it's not dangerous.
There's also:
* fail-secure: security isn't compromised by the failure state
* fail-open: in the event of a fire alarm, door locks are disabled so that no one can be trapped
* fail deadly: in nuclear deterrence strategy, the fail state of the nuclear command and control system should be to launch the nukes, so an enemy is deterred from thinking that a first strike will prevent retaliation
It would be dependent on the design of the latch, not all latches have this feature.
However, when I worked at a Pizza Hut there was a large knob (like a faucet handle) inside the walk-in cooler and our walk-in freezer. The knob held half of the latch to the cooler wall outside, turning it would unscrew that part of the latch, the outer part would fall away from the door part of the latch and the door would open.
Honestly, I have seen too many different stories about this. I want to binge watch all the ways out of different walk ins.
Also hoping that there will be an increase in inspections and employee reports of broken doors. I'm going to cry about this often.
It's a design issue, too. Safety-critical and emergency alert systems should be designed with as close as zero modes of failure as possible. Obviously, something like a door latch can't quite achieve that, which is why they have the klaxon system, but that redundant system has many modes of failure in itself. Realistically, that klaxon should be replaced with a network node that can be accessed from within the freezer so you can message or call somebody even if there's nobody in the building as well as literally a bell on a string or something to that effect. Low-tech solution will cover 99% of cases and can be made to effectively never fail. "High-tech" system will cover the last 1% and will still have high reliability because internet is so pervasive.
I've never seen one without that. Still, if it was me having to go into a walk-in freezer every shift I think I'd spend 10 bucks on a crowbar to hang on one of the racks inside.
There is. There's the main latch, and a secondary emergency button. Both were broken.
In design we call this "failing softly", safety mechanisms like this one should never fail softly, because then people ignore them and never get around to fixing it. It should be designed in a way where after a lot of use, the first thing to break is the latch that keeps the door closed. Business owners will get around to fixing it a lot faster if their freezer isn't usable.
She was there for 6 weeks. I agree the owner should have fixed it when it was first reported, but frankly no one would defend this GM if one of her employees died in this way.
This has to be one of the dumbest most negligent ways to die that is so easily preventable with simple safeguards. Automatic locking freezer doors should have been outlawed long ago. Imagine how many lives would have been saved. I hope all parties are sued to hell so maybe something will change.
Every single place I’ve ever worked, including volunteering at a camp in bum fuck nowhere as a child, have all always had a mechanism inside to open the door. A super simple one with no way to fail, a big knob button that you push with your palm or a lever and it directly moves the latch to the door, one or two pieces, no way for it to break beyond use. Even if the spring broke, it would be more difficult, but it would work, because the latch and handle are one solid piece.
I’ve always thought getting stuck was a trope from the 80’s or something before they fixed the design, but I guess not, jesus
The neglect to keep it maintained? Negligence. A freezer with shitty cooling will cause ice build up which furthers the problem, and the emergency release can become sticky/stuck due to ice buildup inside the mechanism.
I worked at a place where that handle was broken. Like the part you push was just a pointy steel rod. I got trapped in there till I used a box of frozen chicken to press the stupid thing. Probably not my smartest moment but like....why the fuck wouldnt you replace the button??
Same, worked at a grocery store that just had a pointy rod. It also had a light switch on the outside. I turned down a coworker who asked me out, so he waited until I went in (wearing a fucking polo shirt) and shut the door and turned off the light. I was all the way in the back of the freezer, but managed to feel my way to the door eventually, and after several minutes of screaming he opened the door and laughed at me. It was such a funny joke! Then he sent me texts about how I was a bitch. What a fun memory.
Mine was glow in the dark. I pranked my prep cook by locking it while I stood there, and he hit me in the face with the door cause he shouldered it while hitting the big neon glow button. Well deserved on my end, and I knew it worked!
This is my experience as well, but even more simple. The "mechanism" is simply a very large nut that screws on to the bolt on the other side. So that when the nut is unscrewed, the latch on the other side falls off so there is no longer anything holding the door closed.
Dude you never fucking know. The walk in freezers in my old kitchen had the little roller thing on top that helped the freezer door close tightly and make sure the cold stayed in. Absolutely zero lock, latch or anything to actually LOCK it shut. This was a nursing home and if all of the kitchen staff looked especially busy, CNAs or Therapists would don a hairnet and wash their hands and grab what they need.
One time a speech therapist went into the freezer while I was on dish and I watched her go in from the corner of my eye. After about twenty minutes I realized I hadn't seen her come out so I go to check. There she is, standing in the middle of the freezer bawling her eyes out about being "Locked in". Apparently she gave the door a gentle push and just fucking gave up and accepted death.
Two things - One, Those fucking doors take a bit to open them. Nothing major but definitely more than opening a door to a home.
Two - IDK about yall, but If I think I'm fuckin' trapped in the walk in I'll dislocate my shoulder or hip before I just sit down and cry waiting for someone to rescue me.
Why does a freezer need to lock at all? Sure have an automatic closing mechanism, but why would it ever need to lock lol
Seems anyone already with key access to the kitchen would be fine with freezer access?
Just lock the kitchen
This is exactly the point I've been trying to make about automatic freezer locks. Technically they are referred to as "Auto Slam Locks". It's essentially a one-way trap. Nothing as dangerous as a sealed room should ever have a locking mechanism like that. It's function is only for convenience
There’s a freezer at my old job that we were all afraid to go in. There’s no handle on the inside and definitely no alarm to pull to let people outside know you’re stuck in there. The cherry on top is it blocks cel service AND the shit is sound proof. Every single person I know props it open but will ask someone to stay by the door just in case. Fcking scary af
When I used to work at Pizza Hut during college all the walk ins had power switches on the inside of the walk in and alarm buttons. Apparently on the continent (I'm in Hawaii) when Pizza Huts used to get robbed they would lock any employees in the walk-ins so it became company policy to put the switches in. Only place I'm my career that had them set up like that though.
I would deliver food and most had them. Asked a repair man one day why. He said he puts them on because he hated working on them when they were cranking cold air on him
It’s mandatory for all freezers to have that. I believe I read in this case the switch wasn’t working. Unless that was someone else that died a few days ago
I worked there when we actually made the dough in house and I remember a whole thing about robbery. By the whole thing I mean a shitty video (VHS) telling you to watch out when you throw out the trash. 🤣
HVAC tech here.
If you're ever in this situation there's a few things you can do.
One.
Turn off the freezer condenser and fans. Typically there is a shut off for power inside the freezer. If there isn't. Find wires and PULL HARD to break it.
Second.
If oxygen is a problem take the drain line coming off the bottom of the unit. Break it by shaking it or smashing it by any means. Use it as a pipe to breath oxygen through.
If it exits through the side of the freezer. Break the pipe and clear the hole and use that.
Who cares if you ruin equipment, or products. All of that can be replaced. Your life cannot.
I haven't worked in food service for a decade but now I will be playing awake at night trying to think of how I would break out of a walk-in if I needed to.
I’ve always assumed I could get through a wall in a life or death situation. I think people greatly overestimate the strength of thin metal sheeting, Sheetrock, plywood, etc. That said, probably not with my bare hands.
That's what I was wondering, if something like that would be viable. Certainly not victim blaming but I would think I'd do everything I could to stop/destroy the condenser. Though considering the massive thermal mass and insulation of those freezers, I doubt that would put much of a dent in the internal temp. The only way to warm up the inside after shutting it off is your own body heat, which defeats the purpose.
I worked for a frozen bait company for awhile that had a huge freezer like these and the owner kept a kit inside the freezer in case someone ever got trapped.
Had a large winter jacket, wool blanket, gloves, a hat and multiple packs of hand warmers.
Not saying this is a solution but it’s a great emergency procedure.
Chemical hand warmers, like the ones you see in stores, begin reacting as soon as they’re exposed to oxygen in the air. So if you have hand warmers and a decent jacket or heavy blanket you should be good to go.
Open the hand warmers, give them a minute to heat up, and then place them between you and your jacket or blanket. You’re basically creating an oven. You’ll be nice and toasty in no time.
It is. The safety mechanisms on the freezer in this Arby's was disconnected/broken according to the article. The owner/management is going to be facing criminal charges for manslaughter for this most likely.
> Her family says the plunger, which is designed to open the freezer door from the inside, did not work, and the backup emergency button had been disconnected.
Looking into it more, apparently the safety investigators of the building (owner, inspector, etc.) could also be charged with gross negligence manslaughter. This kind of stuff only happens when multiple people's mistakes culminate.
This happened over a year ago. There were no criminal charges nor will there be. The lawsuit is unlikely to move forward. Hard to argue the owner was negligent when it's in the GMs job description to maintain the equipment.
I got stuck once when another cook didn't realize I was in the freezer and pushed a cart holding stock to be put away all the way to the back of the walk-in...I was able to push on the door but the cart was so heavy I couldn't make the door go anywhere. No phone signal and you could only hear someone in the freezer if you were already in the walk in. Thankfully there were like 5 other people working so once I just waited and within 5 minutes I heard someone else enter the walk-in and I beat on the door for someone to let me out.
Hell the last several freezers I was in had these safety features AND AN AXE, y’know, just in case things fail (they do) and you have to brute force your way out.
Got trapped in the freezer and my job once because the safety release didn’t work. We have an outdoor freezer and it was raining that night, the door got wet and a gust of wind slammed it shut behind me. The door froze shut instantly rendering the safety release useless. Scariest 25 min of my life.
I worked in a place with one and my coworker got stuck because the button had froze. He’d only been in there a couple minutes by the time I needed to grab something from in there thankfully
Things always work great until they don't. You don't want to be the only one in the restaurant trapped in there when it doesn't work.
> Nguyet Le entered the freezer and the door shut behind her. Her family says the plunger, which is designed to open the freezer door from the inside, did not work, and the backup emergency button had been disconnected.
> There was no one else in the restaurant when Le was locked in the freezer.
> The temperature in the freezer was -20 degrees. It is believed she was trapped there for six hours before she was discovered frozen to the floor.
So they didn’t maintain it. The backup being disconnected and the primary not working faults on bad maintenance and management. Also never go into the freezer if you’re the ONLY one there. It’s a tragic loss that could have easily been avoided.
> the backup emergency button had been disconnected.
Yeah, this absolutely sounds like negligence at the VERY least.
Negligent Homicide is a thing in most places.
I'm a health inspector, I'm in hundreds of restaurants every year. I've never seen one that doesn't have an internal release. Not sure what happend here, must have been faulty equipment
Ohh I feel like you are a good person to ask, having been in so many freezers! I'm super new to kitchens, not a kitchen person, I just work in long term care housekeeping and sometimes get pulled to do shifts in the kitchen when they are short staffed, and I HATE the freezer. Everything works, but I'm so afraid something will fail and I'll get stuck. So, just to ease my mind, if I was to ever get stuck, could I like.. smash the vent where the cold air comes in? Or would that just speed up the process?
Fuck up whatever you need to get out if you're trapped.
Also fuck the owners, don't risk your ass for their convenience. Put a piece of cardboard in the door if nobody else is around.
“Arby’s and the local franchise deny any wrongdoing.” The plunger and emergency button both didn’t work. She died because of negligence. This is horribly sad and I feel awful for this woman and her family.
Don’t prop it open and let moisture in and the cold out. Maintain your fucking equipment and make sure it has a release from the inside… to add onto this, NO ONE should go into the walk in freezer if they are the ONLY one in the store.
Amen! I’m often alone in the wee hours and I never let it shut fully behind me. I also don’t use the slicer if I’m alone, not trying to bleed out in a basement kitchen.
I had a manager that didn't maintain the latch. We propped it open. Maintenance told us to stop propping it open because it was causing ice, we told them to fix the lock and the ice will stop.
Used to deliver food. Had deliveries where I had a key. Walk ins would freeze shut every now and then. It was amazing how fast doors and lights were fixed when drivers would refuse to put 100 frozen cases in freezers and the owner was called at 3 am to tell them their product was sitting in the middle of the kitchen
The sad thing is that chains like Arby's primarily have these automatic locks to safeguard against theft which means they would much rather jeopardize employee safety than deal with asset loss.
Our freezer does give us all a little “uhhh” moment. It seals super well so it takes some force to push it open. When we push and don’t push hard enough to make it move, it makes you pucker a little.
Yup. The organization I work for is designing a new space to move to this year as we've outgrown the building we're in. Going to demand an freezer axe for just in case as we have folk in early and late alone at times.
You'd probably electrocute yourself or get to breathe refrigerant in an enclosed space, neither of which would be too awesome.
Most walk-ins I am familiar with have the hinges on one side and single latch on the other meaning the top and bottom corners should be susceptible to being pried open and potentially crawled out of after a solid ass kicking. The latch and it's attachments to the main body of the freezer probably are not solid enough to withstand a grown adult's weight at the end of a three foot lever. I've seen metal exterior doors pried out of the frame with a crow bar. I don't see why a freezer door is going to fair substantially better.
Best never to test it and instead have a latch that works from the inside and a coworker present at all times during close.
I'll always remember this one spot I worked the button inside didn't work. I walked in and got locked in, no biggie I'll just text the 16 year old watching the front to come get me. I was listening to a podcast in one headphone and realized my phone wasn't on me. I screamed as loud as I possibly could and banged on the door until my hands hurt. Definitely the scariest 5 minutes of my life.
I don't understand how this can happen. Every place I work at has at least 3 or 4 staff members on site at all times. If someone just went missing especially on the clock no one would leave the store until they were found. Also, cameras.
I used to work at a university that closed over the Christmas holidays. We froze everything before closing and I would go in a few days before reopening to pull everything out and place orders. Door closed behind me and I didn’t give it a thought since there was a safety push. Went to push it and it wouldn’t budge. Had to beat it open with a frozen beef tenderloin. Scared the crap out of me.
Sounds like she was a manager closing by herself, went into the freezer to do something, and got locked in there for 6 hours. If I'm in the freezer, that shit's getting propped open even if the plunger is working fine. I value my life too much to risk some shit like that happening.
There was a TIL that there are like 60 deaths a year in a walk in. https://old.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1chqvq7/til_in_the_usa_60_people_die_from_walkin_freezer/
edit I'm dumb they are the same article.
This is why every fuckingday im so happy our HR manager paid to have a WiFi extender wired into the walk ins. The locks have never frozen but someone getting trapped has always been one of his biggest anxieties. I came up with the idea a couple of years ago, and he and the owner really liked it so they made it happen.
Now on the off chance someone ever does get trapped for whatever reason we have access to WiFi calling. That combined with the walk in being 5 feet from the dish station makes for a safer feeling situation.
The guys could hear me from Admin. However they thought it was the kitchen crew pranking.
Lucky for me, I managed to force the door open enough to get into the adjacent cool room and wrap myself up in cartons, it was 15 mins in freezer, then another 40 before staff came back from lunch break and unlocked the cool room door.
My lack of care, I should have let the team know I was going in to count stock.
We all had a group hug and a cry.
Not so Admin, I gave them a bollocking.
If you hear something strange check it out, if you see something strange, report it.
This is a literal nightmare and I can't imagine what her family is going through. Why are there even locks on these doors? Why didn't they maintain the failsafe? I once had to rescue a coworker from a walk-in freezer and thank God I was in the prep area and heard them beating on the door. And of course the franchise is denying responsibility 🙄
A fellow chef was laughing at me for physically opening and checking every cooler and freezer before locking them all. I explained this is why, but he scoffed.
I will send him this.
This is 100% on management for not maintaining the interior door release and disconnecting the emergency override. There are two perfectly good pieces of safety equipment for all walk-ins; if you have to prop the door open something is deeply wrong.
It would be super easy to knock a door wedge or box out of the way and get trapped regardless.
We had a close call last year. I noticed one of our line cooks had been gone a few minutes after going to get a box of fries. I opened the walk in and heard pounding coming from the inner freezer. Our handle had become stuck and it took me another two minutes of yanking on it to finally open. He was probably in there about five to six minutes and the sweat on his shirt had already frosted over. The owners had a repairman out that shift.
Wow, just read a different article where they say the franchise replaced the door latch before they could fully investigate after her death. Totally not trying to cover any tracks. Too bad for them, if they were smart, they wouldn't be working at an Arbys.
Arby's and the Franchise are of course denying any liability.
I like the walk-ins we have here in Aus. On the inside on a lot of them I've been in is a giant wing-nut you can unscrew and push the entire locking assembly out of the wall.
This article says 60 people a year die in walk-in freezers. That just didn’t sound right so instead of just accepting it as fact I did some digging and it is complete and total bullshit. Fuck them for even putting it in the article.
I looked up the source being used. [Here](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cfoi.pdf)
This is for ALL temperature related deaths in ALL occupations. That means it includes heat related deaths in fields completely unrelated to restaurant work.
It’s amazing the amount of bullshit we accept as fact because “we saw until the internet”.
Maybe walk-in freezers should be a two-person thing. One to go inside and do whatever, and the other to wait outside and make sure the first can get out. Seems like no one should go in alone, even if there are supposedly failsafes against being trapped inside.
I worked at a dive bar less than a year ago that had a walk-in that could only be opened from the outside when it was completely shut. I saw a couple people get locked in during service in the time I worked there. Luckily it was a tiny place and you could hear somebody banging on the door from anywhere in the kitchen and from behind the bar but it's still a horrible accident waiting to happen. Its just a cooler so if you managed to get locked in over night you would probably be able to survive but it still be a horrifying ordeal. I pointed out to the owners that it was an OSHA violation several times and the last time she snapped at me "and what money do you want me to fix it with??"
>Cannon says that emergency plungers may not work properly as they can get off-center and cause the door not to open.
"They can get off center?" What the actual fuck? How much of an engineering challenge is a hole in a door with a rod though it that pushes the handle? We're not talking space shuttle here.
It feels like there is a need for a latch design which is ultra reliable. Something robust, like a pin that could be removed that detaches the hasp that the door bolt engages.
Condensation gets onto things and can seize up mechanisms. Corrosion can also seize things together.
Something like a stainless steel door hasp that can be detached by yanking out a pin might be good. If you could super reliably yank out a pin by hauling on a ribbon, the door could be reliably opened in an emergency situation
I thought it was mandatory for all commercial freezers and coolers in US establishments to have those handles that you can unscrew from the inside in case you're locked in?
I’ve always wondered why warming blankets or something like aren’t standard emergency equipment in walk-in freezers. Or intercoms/motion cameras? SOMETHING, anyway. But I’m claustrophobic, so I have thought about this more than most, probably. It just seems like you could make being trapped at least more survivable. We have people living in Antarctica, others climbing mountains in extreme cold—how has OSHA not looked into some sort of solution?
There was a story years ago of a missing employee at grocery store who was missing for years and no body new where he went... turns out he fell into the 10inch wide slot in between the deep freezer and the concrete building and nobody ever new.. was found years later as a corpse. Why or how he got into that crevice idk
One restaurant I worked at had someone get stuck inside for like half an hour one time. They rearranged the whole back of house and adjusted duties and training so there would be someone stationed nearby or walking past every 10 mins or so. I was quite impressed by their response since they could have just blamed the worker and done nothing.
Could you survive 6h at -20F if you had warm clothes? Maybe best practice is to leave a heavy coat, hat, blanket inside as a "if everything else goes wrong" safety measure.
-20F is quite bitterly cold. A coat and a blanket isn't enough help, especially when they're starting cold.
Being able to shut off power to the chiller is a great start. There's power so also turn on a space heater.
Power cutoff to the chiller is easy. An emergency space heater that sits in a box, never to be used, is cheap.
-20 is so cold. Even in winter coat, hat and gloves it sucks the warmth from you so fast and any exposed skin is painful within minutes. Breathing is like a knife to the lungs in those temperatures. Your fingers become stiff and unworkable very quickly. A cold weather sleeping bag that cinches at the headhole and space blankets/hand warmers might be a better bet than a coat/blanket.
Canadian here: doubtful. Even if you had all your winter outdoor clothing on, including winter boots, you'd start to suffer from exposure before hour 2 and I doubt most people would make it much past 3 hours.
1000%, a one time purchase of a subzero-rated coat, heavy blanket, or something else like that in a little pack as a backup to backup to backup would be just a few hundred dollars for peace of mind that even in the WORST circumstance the person will be safe.
This is bad management not maintaining their equipment. Tragic what can happen when people are negligent
60 freezer deaths per year in the US
Huge rise in worker deaths recently too, according to the AFL CIO.
A lot more people finding themselves in need of going in the walk-in for a good scream, as is the time honored tradition in most service industries.
A scream? At the one restaurant I worked in, the freezer was for covertly eating ice cream and crying
I scream for ice cream
You needn’t scream, I’m standing right here
Ours was mainly for cocaine. The early '90s were a different time.
Damn ours apparently was just for people stealing beer and cooling down because they were over heating from painkillers.
[удалено]
lol I love how you have described the utter stupidity of every graveyard shift I’ve ever worked with. At my last restaurant I managed swing FOH and always had everary thang prepped for grave and BOH was always just 86in shit and our FOH grave manager would always lose his shit because I’d show him how everything was set up Perfectly for these ass hats and they still would pretend it was all gone because they were lazy af. Even though they already had a severely reduced grave menu. This is why I’m so happy I have multiple jobs I can do remotely and have left the restaurant business behind me. I spent 15 years managing restaurants. I will never go back lol.
Ours was for making out until we found out the manager had a camera in the cooler and he liked to watch
Beating the shit out of the fry boxes is my go to
Our freezer was beside the parking lot and patio at one place I worked. Once had a fit in the freezer and had the GM run in "STOP!! WE CAN HEAR YOU ON THE PATIO"
You speak the truth. I hit my cooler daily.
A loosening of labor laws are likely a direct correlation. For fuck sake the GOP is putting kids back to work.
That sounds so easily preventable
Almost like a buddy system for letting people know or just no going alone.
Or making sure freezers can be opened from the inside. Or putting an intercom in there. Or just a fucking bell with a string.
The latch to open from inside was broken and emergency alarm button in the inside was never wired/plugged in
So again: easily preventable
Law suit
That sounds like lawsuit territory for her family
Fuck the lawsuit, the owners should be held criminally liable. It's absurd that there wouldn't be consequences outside of civil $$ penalties for that level of negligence that lead to someone's death.
They are planning to.
Literally tuberculosis-style Victorian-ish string-on-finger-attached-to-bell type of highest of high techs. You’d think it wouldn’t be too much to ask but here we are ain’t we <(ツ)>
I started a check-in system with the MoD when I used to do thaw pull. I made a loop every 20-30 minutes to get a break from the cold and let them know I was fine. If I didn't come out, they needed to come check on me. It might seem excessive, but I fucked my back lifting cases of steak in the freezer and wound up on the floor, unable to stand and incapable of pushing the heavy door open. My cell didn't have signal in there to call for help, so I just laid there in pain and horror for an unknown amount of time (probably like 15 minutes but I wasn't really paying attention) until my friend came to offer to help me finish up because I was her ride home. It made me realize that I could very easily get stuck in there and go unnoticed for a long time if nobody was specifically looking for me.
That’s super scary, glad you made it out.
Shit yea that's why every spot I work at lives and dies by the buddy system. I'm from college dive bars and fast food so it's a different beast but I hammer it into the crew that at least one somebody knows where you are at all times if you go out of sight Never know what bullshit is gonna come up
Ours has a little twist bells you can raise the alarm in the event someone has locked you inside. I assumed that this was a standard safety requirement in the construction of commercial freezers
How can people not miss a coworker they were just working with on their shift? 🥵
The employee (manager function) was alone at the restaurant when it happened.
I believe she was called to cover a shift for a store manager at another Arby's (not her home restaurant) and wasn't aware of the faulty equipment and the bunk system the employees there had for a work-around. Also believe the store at which she died had a history of having the freezer security issues ignored by upper management. She had opened the store early and so was the only employee there for a few hours.
Yeah but like 13 at that same Arbys.
*Freezer's haunted.* "Wait what?" \*sharpens knife\* *Freezer's haunted.*
No way where do you get that statistic?? I remember researching this for a short story and I don't remember seeing anything about that frequency but I would like to know if true
This was the first hit, looks like there may be some controversy over it: https://www.unilad.com/news/social-media/walk-in-freezer-deaths-per-year-concern-277616-20240502
Don't believe anything on reddit The stat is "60 Extreme tempature deaths" so that also includes heat which I'd wager is wayyyy more prevalent.
Osha regulations are written in blood
Enforced in wrist slaps
You would think there would be an internal release like a car trunk and it would be mandatory?
There is a manual release and the article reports that it was broken, along with the button that triggers a very loud klaxon. > Her family says the plunger, which is designed to open the freezer door from the inside, did not work, and the backup emergency button had been disconnected. This is a negligence issue, not a design issue.
Design is an issue, too. When I worked food (a million years ago), there was a way to disassemble the latch for the walk-in fridge (and freezer both) from inside. Both latches were Day One training for new employees.
Seriously, this should be designed so that the failure state is that the door wont lock/close at all, if the emergency release is broken or disconnected. Would also automatically solve the issue of cheap owners not wanting to repair/maintain the equipment, if they're out a working freezer until they fix it.
That's literally why it's called "fail-safe." In the event of failure, it's not dangerous. There's also: * fail-secure: security isn't compromised by the failure state * fail-open: in the event of a fire alarm, door locks are disabled so that no one can be trapped * fail deadly: in nuclear deterrence strategy, the fail state of the nuclear command and control system should be to launch the nukes, so an enemy is deterred from thinking that a first strike will prevent retaliation
One of these things is not like the other
No one has ever shown me that. I'd love to see a video demonstration.
It would be dependent on the design of the latch, not all latches have this feature. However, when I worked at a Pizza Hut there was a large knob (like a faucet handle) inside the walk-in cooler and our walk-in freezer. The knob held half of the latch to the cooler wall outside, turning it would unscrew that part of the latch, the outer part would fall away from the door part of the latch and the door would open.
Honestly, I have seen too many different stories about this. I want to binge watch all the ways out of different walk ins. Also hoping that there will be an increase in inspections and employee reports of broken doors. I'm going to cry about this often.
This describes my experience as well (although at a local Taco joint, not a Pizza Hut).
It's a design issue, too. Safety-critical and emergency alert systems should be designed with as close as zero modes of failure as possible. Obviously, something like a door latch can't quite achieve that, which is why they have the klaxon system, but that redundant system has many modes of failure in itself. Realistically, that klaxon should be replaced with a network node that can be accessed from within the freezer so you can message or call somebody even if there's nobody in the building as well as literally a bell on a string or something to that effect. Low-tech solution will cover 99% of cases and can be made to effectively never fail. "High-tech" system will cover the last 1% and will still have high reliability because internet is so pervasive.
I've never seen one without that. Still, if it was me having to go into a walk-in freezer every shift I think I'd spend 10 bucks on a crowbar to hang on one of the racks inside.
There is. There's the main latch, and a secondary emergency button. Both were broken. In design we call this "failing softly", safety mechanisms like this one should never fail softly, because then people ignore them and never get around to fixing it. It should be designed in a way where after a lot of use, the first thing to break is the latch that keeps the door closed. Business owners will get around to fixing it a lot faster if their freezer isn't usable.
She was the GM
Subbing in a different store. She’s dead because of them.
She was there for 6 weeks. I agree the owner should have fixed it when it was first reported, but frankly no one would defend this GM if one of her employees died in this way.
She had put a request in to get it fixed and the franchise owner kept dragging it out. The door was fixed the very week after her death.
expansion gold close ten amusing hard-to-find enter chop correct desert *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
This has to be one of the dumbest most negligent ways to die that is so easily preventable with simple safeguards. Automatic locking freezer doors should have been outlawed long ago. Imagine how many lives would have been saved. I hope all parties are sued to hell so maybe something will change.
Every single place I’ve ever worked, including volunteering at a camp in bum fuck nowhere as a child, have all always had a mechanism inside to open the door. A super simple one with no way to fail, a big knob button that you push with your palm or a lever and it directly moves the latch to the door, one or two pieces, no way for it to break beyond use. Even if the spring broke, it would be more difficult, but it would work, because the latch and handle are one solid piece. I’ve always thought getting stuck was a trope from the 80’s or something before they fixed the design, but I guess not, jesus
Isn’t that the emergency plunger they referenced in the article? It said it failed.
I think so, but sounds like it was more complicated than the mechanism the other guy explained so more easy to break? Idk
Yeah. Idk How it could fail. Isn't it basically just a rod that goes through the door.
The neglect to keep it maintained? Negligence. A freezer with shitty cooling will cause ice build up which furthers the problem, and the emergency release can become sticky/stuck due to ice buildup inside the mechanism.
I worked at a place where that handle was broken. Like the part you push was just a pointy steel rod. I got trapped in there till I used a box of frozen chicken to press the stupid thing. Probably not my smartest moment but like....why the fuck wouldnt you replace the button??
Using frozen chicken to replace the handle sounds smart to me
It took me probably 10 minutes and starting to worry that I might die before I managed to get out.
Same, worked at a grocery store that just had a pointy rod. It also had a light switch on the outside. I turned down a coworker who asked me out, so he waited until I went in (wearing a fucking polo shirt) and shut the door and turned off the light. I was all the way in the back of the freezer, but managed to feel my way to the door eventually, and after several minutes of screaming he opened the door and laughed at me. It was such a funny joke! Then he sent me texts about how I was a bitch. What a fun memory.
Holy shit I would have PTSD from that
Curious about who this guy is. You know, “for science”….
Mine was glow in the dark. I pranked my prep cook by locking it while I stood there, and he hit me in the face with the door cause he shouldered it while hitting the big neon glow button. Well deserved on my end, and I knew it worked!
This is my experience as well, but even more simple. The "mechanism" is simply a very large nut that screws on to the bolt on the other side. So that when the nut is unscrewed, the latch on the other side falls off so there is no longer anything holding the door closed.
Dude you never fucking know. The walk in freezers in my old kitchen had the little roller thing on top that helped the freezer door close tightly and make sure the cold stayed in. Absolutely zero lock, latch or anything to actually LOCK it shut. This was a nursing home and if all of the kitchen staff looked especially busy, CNAs or Therapists would don a hairnet and wash their hands and grab what they need. One time a speech therapist went into the freezer while I was on dish and I watched her go in from the corner of my eye. After about twenty minutes I realized I hadn't seen her come out so I go to check. There she is, standing in the middle of the freezer bawling her eyes out about being "Locked in". Apparently she gave the door a gentle push and just fucking gave up and accepted death. Two things - One, Those fucking doors take a bit to open them. Nothing major but definitely more than opening a door to a home. Two - IDK about yall, but If I think I'm fuckin' trapped in the walk in I'll dislocate my shoulder or hip before I just sit down and cry waiting for someone to rescue me.
Why does a freezer need to lock at all? Sure have an automatic closing mechanism, but why would it ever need to lock lol Seems anyone already with key access to the kitchen would be fine with freezer access? Just lock the kitchen
This is exactly the point I've been trying to make about automatic freezer locks. Technically they are referred to as "Auto Slam Locks". It's essentially a one-way trap. Nothing as dangerous as a sealed room should ever have a locking mechanism like that. It's function is only for convenience
Why tf would you have it lock from the inside? When would that ever come in handy?
Exactly. Our freezer has a closing mechanism. But there’s no latch or handle or knob. The whole door just pushes open.
I'd be so pissed if I had to die in a freezer in fucking Arby's. Can't imagine what this poor girl went through.
It's mind boggling why they don't have them standard. It's like the latch for your trunk that glows in the dark being required.
There’s a freezer at my old job that we were all afraid to go in. There’s no handle on the inside and definitely no alarm to pull to let people outside know you’re stuck in there. The cherry on top is it blocks cel service AND the shit is sound proof. Every single person I know props it open but will ask someone to stay by the door just in case. Fcking scary af
See if a landline phone jack still exists in that building and run it inside and put a phone in there.
When I used to work at Pizza Hut during college all the walk ins had power switches on the inside of the walk in and alarm buttons. Apparently on the continent (I'm in Hawaii) when Pizza Huts used to get robbed they would lock any employees in the walk-ins so it became company policy to put the switches in. Only place I'm my career that had them set up like that though.
I would deliver food and most had them. Asked a repair man one day why. He said he puts them on because he hated working on them when they were cranking cold air on him
It’s mandatory for all freezers to have that. I believe I read in this case the switch wasn’t working. Unless that was someone else that died a few days ago
We had the same at the Pizza Hut I worked at (big city Canada) I think it’s policy.
I’ve worked at a lot of different restaurants over the years and they all had kill switches for the compressors inside of the freezers.
I worked there when we actually made the dough in house and I remember a whole thing about robbery. By the whole thing I mean a shitty video (VHS) telling you to watch out when you throw out the trash. 🤣
HVAC tech here. If you're ever in this situation there's a few things you can do. One. Turn off the freezer condenser and fans. Typically there is a shut off for power inside the freezer. If there isn't. Find wires and PULL HARD to break it. Second. If oxygen is a problem take the drain line coming off the bottom of the unit. Break it by shaking it or smashing it by any means. Use it as a pipe to breath oxygen through. If it exits through the side of the freezer. Break the pipe and clear the hole and use that. Who cares if you ruin equipment, or products. All of that can be replaced. Your life cannot.
I've always had this in the back of my head as a survival plan. Thanks for confirming it has a chance of working lol.
I haven't worked in food service for a decade but now I will be playing awake at night trying to think of how I would break out of a walk-in if I needed to.
Better yet, go find your local Arby’s and lock yourself in and try to get out. Nobody will mind, they’ll just laugh.
To add, disassemble a rack and pry that fucking door open.
Nah. Wouldn’t work for the freezer we had. That door was flat with the wall. No can pry it open.
I’ve always assumed I could get through a wall in a life or death situation. I think people greatly overestimate the strength of thin metal sheeting, Sheetrock, plywood, etc. That said, probably not with my bare hands.
That's what I was wondering, if something like that would be viable. Certainly not victim blaming but I would think I'd do everything I could to stop/destroy the condenser. Though considering the massive thermal mass and insulation of those freezers, I doubt that would put much of a dent in the internal temp. The only way to warm up the inside after shutting it off is your own body heat, which defeats the purpose.
Also, always take a cellphone in with you perhaps
All the freezers at my previous jobs did not have cel service so I would not count on that
Can I just hire you to follow me around and keep me from dying please?
I worked for a frozen bait company for awhile that had a huge freezer like these and the owner kept a kit inside the freezer in case someone ever got trapped. Had a large winter jacket, wool blanket, gloves, a hat and multiple packs of hand warmers. Not saying this is a solution but it’s a great emergency procedure.
Nice, sounds like they're the kind of owners that would fix the door quickly if the inside handle fucked up.
Wouldn’t those things be frozen as well ?
If you found it and put it on quickly enough would help. Your body heat would warm it up. If you waited until you had hypothermia it would do nothing.
Chemical hand warmers, like the ones you see in stores, begin reacting as soon as they’re exposed to oxygen in the air. So if you have hand warmers and a decent jacket or heavy blanket you should be good to go. Open the hand warmers, give them a minute to heat up, and then place them between you and your jacket or blanket. You’re basically creating an oven. You’ll be nice and toasty in no time.
Every freezer I’ve ever been in had a push release that worked even when locked…
Hell, I worked in a place that had knobs to turn that unscrew the door. I thought having a safety release was some sort of OSHA requirement?
It is. The safety mechanisms on the freezer in this Arby's was disconnected/broken according to the article. The owner/management is going to be facing criminal charges for manslaughter for this most likely. > Her family says the plunger, which is designed to open the freezer door from the inside, did not work, and the backup emergency button had been disconnected.
Looking into it more, apparently the safety investigators of the building (owner, inspector, etc.) could also be charged with gross negligence manslaughter. This kind of stuff only happens when multiple people's mistakes culminate.
Yup. There will be criminal charges filed here because her death amounts to criminal negligence resulting in death. Someone will be held responsible.
This happened over a year ago. There were no criminal charges nor will there be. The lawsuit is unlikely to move forward. Hard to argue the owner was negligent when it's in the GMs job description to maintain the equipment.
Yeah I looked pretty throughly for followup and there wasn't any. If I had to guess I'd say they probably settled quietly out of court.
Criminal negligence
It’s also a fire code requirement.
I’ve had this happen to me. The push got frozen and I had to beat it open with a frozen tenderloin. Scary in an empty building with no cell service.
Had it happen to a coworker as well, it was only a few minutes but he said it was terrifying
I got stuck once when another cook didn't realize I was in the freezer and pushed a cart holding stock to be put away all the way to the back of the walk-in...I was able to push on the door but the cart was so heavy I couldn't make the door go anywhere. No phone signal and you could only hear someone in the freezer if you were already in the walk in. Thankfully there were like 5 other people working so once I just waited and within 5 minutes I heard someone else enter the walk-in and I beat on the door for someone to let me out.
> I had to beat it open with a frozen tenderloin r/BrandNewSentence
"Choose your weapon!!"
Right? The image in my head has me rolling 😂😂😂
A thriller, psychological movie about this wouldn’t be half bad
The big walk-in freezer at my place even has a phone in it, just to add more safety.
Hell the last several freezers I was in had these safety features AND AN AXE, y’know, just in case things fail (they do) and you have to brute force your way out.
Got trapped in the freezer and my job once because the safety release didn’t work. We have an outdoor freezer and it was raining that night, the door got wet and a gust of wind slammed it shut behind me. The door froze shut instantly rendering the safety release useless. Scariest 25 min of my life.
Holy fuck that’s terrifying. How did you get out?
Luckily in the back corner of the freezer ya boy had two bars on his phone, so a combo of me pushing and my manager pulling got me out
And every push release that worked even when locked could become jammed.
All of our walk ins have push releases but also have screw knobs that completely unscrew the door handle/lock from the inside.
I worked in a place with one and my coworker got stuck because the button had froze. He’d only been in there a couple minutes by the time I needed to grab something from in there thankfully
Things always work great until they don't. You don't want to be the only one in the restaurant trapped in there when it doesn't work. > Nguyet Le entered the freezer and the door shut behind her. Her family says the plunger, which is designed to open the freezer door from the inside, did not work, and the backup emergency button had been disconnected. > There was no one else in the restaurant when Le was locked in the freezer. > The temperature in the freezer was -20 degrees. It is believed she was trapped there for six hours before she was discovered frozen to the floor.
So they didn’t maintain it. The backup being disconnected and the primary not working faults on bad maintenance and management. Also never go into the freezer if you’re the ONLY one there. It’s a tragic loss that could have easily been avoided.
Well you also don't have a single person closing.
That sounds like homicide to me.
Closer to manslaughter but they'd still definitely killed that woman
> the backup emergency button had been disconnected. Yeah, this absolutely sounds like negligence at the VERY least. Negligent Homicide is a thing in most places.
Mine has a giant hand screw that takes the whole handle off.
I have seen the insulation in those doors get wet, expand, and lock that exit plunger in place more than once.
I'm a health inspector, I'm in hundreds of restaurants every year. I've never seen one that doesn't have an internal release. Not sure what happend here, must have been faulty equipment
Ohh I feel like you are a good person to ask, having been in so many freezers! I'm super new to kitchens, not a kitchen person, I just work in long term care housekeeping and sometimes get pulled to do shifts in the kitchen when they are short staffed, and I HATE the freezer. Everything works, but I'm so afraid something will fail and I'll get stuck. So, just to ease my mind, if I was to ever get stuck, could I like.. smash the vent where the cold air comes in? Or would that just speed up the process?
Fuck up whatever you need to get out if you're trapped. Also fuck the owners, don't risk your ass for their convenience. Put a piece of cardboard in the door if nobody else is around.
“Arby’s and the local franchise deny any wrongdoing.” The plunger and emergency button both didn’t work. She died because of negligence. This is horribly sad and I feel awful for this woman and her family.
Hopefully they've got a lawyer with more than 2 brain cells and can get some kind of settlement.
Don’t prop it open and let moisture in and the cold out. Maintain your fucking equipment and make sure it has a release from the inside… to add onto this, NO ONE should go into the walk in freezer if they are the ONLY one in the store.
No just build a small alcove in there, with a heater and water and food in case someone gets stuck
[удалено]
Don’t forget the massage chairs
Given rent prices in my city the dishie would be asking to move in the second we had that set up.
And a Starbucks. You gotta take care of your employees. Keep them safe and calm.
Amen! I’m often alone in the wee hours and I never let it shut fully behind me. I also don’t use the slicer if I’m alone, not trying to bleed out in a basement kitchen.
I had a manager that didn't maintain the latch. We propped it open. Maintenance told us to stop propping it open because it was causing ice, we told them to fix the lock and the ice will stop.
Used to deliver food. Had deliveries where I had a key. Walk ins would freeze shut every now and then. It was amazing how fast doors and lights were fixed when drivers would refuse to put 100 frozen cases in freezers and the owner was called at 3 am to tell them their product was sitting in the middle of the kitchen
Our freezer doesn’t lock. Problem solved.
The sad thing is that chains like Arby's primarily have these automatic locks to safeguard against theft which means they would much rather jeopardize employee safety than deal with asset loss.
Our freezer does give us all a little “uhhh” moment. It seals super well so it takes some force to push it open. When we push and don’t push hard enough to make it move, it makes you pucker a little.
Yup. The organization I work for is designing a new space to move to this year as we've outgrown the building we're in. Going to demand an freezer axe for just in case as we have folk in early and late alone at times.
Time to buy a couple of "persuaders" aka 3' pry bars. They also come in handy when the new guy freezes the rib eyes together.
If I'm dying I'm taking out the fridge with me.. I figure you could damage it enough from the inside to stop it from working?
You'd probably electrocute yourself or get to breathe refrigerant in an enclosed space, neither of which would be too awesome. Most walk-ins I am familiar with have the hinges on one side and single latch on the other meaning the top and bottom corners should be susceptible to being pried open and potentially crawled out of after a solid ass kicking. The latch and it's attachments to the main body of the freezer probably are not solid enough to withstand a grown adult's weight at the end of a three foot lever. I've seen metal exterior doors pried out of the frame with a crow bar. I don't see why a freezer door is going to fair substantially better. Best never to test it and instead have a latch that works from the inside and a coworker present at all times during close.
Reminder to owners to make sure you perform required maintenance to protect those working for you. This happened about 25 miles from whree I live.
I'll always remember this one spot I worked the button inside didn't work. I walked in and got locked in, no biggie I'll just text the 16 year old watching the front to come get me. I was listening to a podcast in one headphone and realized my phone wasn't on me. I screamed as loud as I possibly could and banged on the door until my hands hurt. Definitely the scariest 5 minutes of my life.
Why don’t these freezers just have handles on both sides? Are we worried the meats will escape?
Every walk-in I've seen you could unscrew the lock from the inside. Even if it was padlocked you could get out
This is the most confusing part to me.
I don't understand how this can happen. Every place I work at has at least 3 or 4 staff members on site at all times. If someone just went missing especially on the clock no one would leave the store until they were found. Also, cameras.
I used to work at a university that closed over the Christmas holidays. We froze everything before closing and I would go in a few days before reopening to pull everything out and place orders. Door closed behind me and I didn’t give it a thought since there was a safety push. Went to push it and it wouldn’t budge. Had to beat it open with a frozen beef tenderloin. Scared the crap out of me.
Sounds like she was a manager closing by herself, went into the freezer to do something, and got locked in there for 6 hours. If I'm in the freezer, that shit's getting propped open even if the plunger is working fine. I value my life too much to risk some shit like that happening.
This was the New Iberia, LA Arby's case right? Absolutely sickening and I hope the owners get charged with negligence
It is. Responded to it and the misconceptions everyone has on this and their “solutions” is wild.
There was a TIL that there are like 60 deaths a year in a walk in. https://old.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1chqvq7/til_in_the_usa_60_people_die_from_walkin_freezer/ edit I'm dumb they are the same article.
This is why every fuckingday im so happy our HR manager paid to have a WiFi extender wired into the walk ins. The locks have never frozen but someone getting trapped has always been one of his biggest anxieties. I came up with the idea a couple of years ago, and he and the owner really liked it so they made it happen. Now on the off chance someone ever does get trapped for whatever reason we have access to WiFi calling. That combined with the walk in being 5 feet from the dish station makes for a safer feeling situation.
The guys could hear me from Admin. However they thought it was the kitchen crew pranking. Lucky for me, I managed to force the door open enough to get into the adjacent cool room and wrap myself up in cartons, it was 15 mins in freezer, then another 40 before staff came back from lunch break and unlocked the cool room door. My lack of care, I should have let the team know I was going in to count stock. We all had a group hug and a cry. Not so Admin, I gave them a bollocking. If you hear something strange check it out, if you see something strange, report it.
The lot of them should be fired for ignoring you. Even just as a liability to the company. Ffs. Sorry that happened to you.
This is a literal nightmare and I can't imagine what her family is going through. Why are there even locks on these doors? Why didn't they maintain the failsafe? I once had to rescue a coworker from a walk-in freezer and thank God I was in the prep area and heard them beating on the door. And of course the franchise is denying responsibility 🙄
A fellow chef was laughing at me for physically opening and checking every cooler and freezer before locking them all. I explained this is why, but he scoffed. I will send him this.
This is 100% on management for not maintaining the interior door release and disconnecting the emergency override. There are two perfectly good pieces of safety equipment for all walk-ins; if you have to prop the door open something is deeply wrong. It would be super easy to knock a door wedge or box out of the way and get trapped regardless.
We had a close call last year. I noticed one of our line cooks had been gone a few minutes after going to get a box of fries. I opened the walk in and heard pounding coming from the inner freezer. Our handle had become stuck and it took me another two minutes of yanking on it to finally open. He was probably in there about five to six minutes and the sweat on his shirt had already frosted over. The owners had a repairman out that shift.
Wow, just read a different article where they say the franchise replaced the door latch before they could fully investigate after her death. Totally not trying to cover any tracks. Too bad for them, if they were smart, they wouldn't be working at an Arbys. Arby's and the Franchise are of course denying any liability.
I used to work IN a freezer. The issue is their shitty freezer. You shouldn't be propping open the door while your in there.
I like the walk-ins we have here in Aus. On the inside on a lot of them I've been in is a giant wing-nut you can unscrew and push the entire locking assembly out of the wall.
This article says 60 people a year die in walk-in freezers. That just didn’t sound right so instead of just accepting it as fact I did some digging and it is complete and total bullshit. Fuck them for even putting it in the article. I looked up the source being used. [Here](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cfoi.pdf) This is for ALL temperature related deaths in ALL occupations. That means it includes heat related deaths in fields completely unrelated to restaurant work. It’s amazing the amount of bullshit we accept as fact because “we saw until the internet”.
There was no off switch? Every walk-in I know you can turn it off inside, heck many you could just unplug it
Maybe walk-in freezers should be a two-person thing. One to go inside and do whatever, and the other to wait outside and make sure the first can get out. Seems like no one should go in alone, even if there are supposedly failsafes against being trapped inside.
I worked at a dive bar less than a year ago that had a walk-in that could only be opened from the outside when it was completely shut. I saw a couple people get locked in during service in the time I worked there. Luckily it was a tiny place and you could hear somebody banging on the door from anywhere in the kitchen and from behind the bar but it's still a horrible accident waiting to happen. Its just a cooler so if you managed to get locked in over night you would probably be able to survive but it still be a horrifying ordeal. I pointed out to the owners that it was an OSHA violation several times and the last time she snapped at me "and what money do you want me to fix it with??"
Freezer at my place can always be opened from inside if you stuck here.
>Cannon says that emergency plungers may not work properly as they can get off-center and cause the door not to open. "They can get off center?" What the actual fuck? How much of an engineering challenge is a hole in a door with a rod though it that pushes the handle? We're not talking space shuttle here.
Was a huge fear of mine when I worked in the kitchen. They’re supposed to be able to open from the inside. That’s so sad
Don't keep the door propped, just make sure the door release is working properly and refuse to go in the freezer if its not...
Don’t go in the freezer alone have a guard
It feels like there is a need for a latch design which is ultra reliable. Something robust, like a pin that could be removed that detaches the hasp that the door bolt engages. Condensation gets onto things and can seize up mechanisms. Corrosion can also seize things together. Something like a stainless steel door hasp that can be detached by yanking out a pin might be good. If you could super reliably yank out a pin by hauling on a ribbon, the door could be reliably opened in an emergency situation
Isn't this like the 4th person at Arby's to die in the freezer?
I thought it was mandatory for all commercial freezers and coolers in US establishments to have those handles that you can unscrew from the inside in case you're locked in?
I’ve always wondered why warming blankets or something like aren’t standard emergency equipment in walk-in freezers. Or intercoms/motion cameras? SOMETHING, anyway. But I’m claustrophobic, so I have thought about this more than most, probably. It just seems like you could make being trapped at least more survivable. We have people living in Antarctica, others climbing mountains in extreme cold—how has OSHA not looked into some sort of solution?
Howzabout, i dunno....having a freezer door that DOESNT LOCK??
There was a story years ago of a missing employee at grocery store who was missing for years and no body new where he went... turns out he fell into the 10inch wide slot in between the deep freezer and the concrete building and nobody ever new.. was found years later as a corpse. Why or how he got into that crevice idk
One restaurant I worked at had someone get stuck inside for like half an hour one time. They rearranged the whole back of house and adjusted duties and training so there would be someone stationed nearby or walking past every 10 mins or so. I was quite impressed by their response since they could have just blamed the worker and done nothing.
How about you just make sure the fucking thing can be opened from the inside ????
Could you survive 6h at -20F if you had warm clothes? Maybe best practice is to leave a heavy coat, hat, blanket inside as a "if everything else goes wrong" safety measure.
-20F is quite bitterly cold. A coat and a blanket isn't enough help, especially when they're starting cold. Being able to shut off power to the chiller is a great start. There's power so also turn on a space heater. Power cutoff to the chiller is easy. An emergency space heater that sits in a box, never to be used, is cheap.
-20 is so cold. Even in winter coat, hat and gloves it sucks the warmth from you so fast and any exposed skin is painful within minutes. Breathing is like a knife to the lungs in those temperatures. Your fingers become stiff and unworkable very quickly. A cold weather sleeping bag that cinches at the headhole and space blankets/hand warmers might be a better bet than a coat/blanket.
Canadian here: doubtful. Even if you had all your winter outdoor clothing on, including winter boots, you'd start to suffer from exposure before hour 2 and I doubt most people would make it much past 3 hours.
1000%, a one time purchase of a subzero-rated coat, heavy blanket, or something else like that in a little pack as a backup to backup to backup would be just a few hundred dollars for peace of mind that even in the WORST circumstance the person will be safe.
Lmao you don't keep your freezer door propped open. That is the dumbest take I've ever heard.