UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

At approximately 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday August 28, 2012, employee #1, a 32-year-old male laborer with Spreckels Sugar Co, was working at a sugar processing plant in Brawley. Employee' #1s job was to clean out a lime kiln sump pit of accumulated mud and lime-water. Employee #1, was wearing rubber boots, but had cut the boots down to make them more comfortable around his lower legs. When Employee #1 descended into the pit, there was about three-feet of mud and water at the bottom, and the water came up over his boots causing chemical burns from the caustic liquid before he could exit the pit. Employee #1, was transported to UCSD burn center after receiving initial care at El Centro Medical Center, and was hospitalized. The initial treatment was unsuccessful and Employee #1 was hospitalized for the burns, requiring surgical debridement and later skin grafts. Employee #1 was hospitalized for eleven days. The worksite where the incident occurred was a beet sugar processing plant.