SALEM, Ore. — Oregon’s Occupational Safety and Health Agency says it has fined a Dundee winery $11,100 for alleged violations of confined space rules after an investigation into a worker's death.
The Statesman Journal reports a worker at Corus Estates & Vineyards LLC, was found unresponsive Feb. 1 in an empty 30,000-gallon wine tank.
The 39-year-old man’s task was to enter through the bottom and pump wine remnants into another tank.
Low-pressure nitrogen gas was pumped in to prevent remnant oxidation and the man was asphyxiated as a result of the displacement of oxygen due to the nitrogen gas in the tank.
Winery officials say they plan to appeal the citations.
