Officials are investigating an employee death at the Palermo’s Pizza manufacturing facility in Milwaukee, a company spokesperson said.
The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed it had responded to a death at the company’s manufacturing facility at 38th Street and West Lincoln Avenue.
Palermo’s spokesperson Rebecca Schimke said in a statement Sept. 17 the company is cooperating with the investigation and offering support to the employee’s family members.
“The tragic accident that took an employee’s life earlier today is a terrible incident that is being fully investigated,” Schimke said. “We are cooperating with government officials and gathering facts.”
In all, 112 people in Wisconsin died from injuries they suffered in the workplace in 2023, the most recent data year reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The vast majority of those who died in the work place in Wisconsin in 2023 − 88 percent of them − were men. A third of them were self-employed.
Palermo’s was founded in 1954 and entered the frozen pizza business in 1979.
In 2006, Palermo’s was the first Milwaukee manufacturer to develop a site in the Menomonee Valley Industrial Center.
The company expanded its operations when it opened its West Milwaukee production facility earlier this year. The 200,000-square-foot plant took over the longtime site of Froedtert Malt Corp.’s complex before it was demolished in 2023.
This story was updated to add new information.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Officials investigating employee death at Palermo’s Pizza facility in Milwaukee
Reporting by Francesca Pica and Chris Ramirez, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
