Redwood City: Grocery Outlet worker crushed to death in a compactor/baler

The employee has been identified as Mendie Udo, 43, of Burlingame, according to the San Mateo County Coroner’s Office.

When Redwood City firefighters arrived at the scene they found Udo still lying partially in the cardboard baling machine, which Battalion Chief Geoffrey Balton said was a little higher than waist height.

He was pronounced dead at the scene after he was removed, Balton said.

Cal/OSHA has sent an investigator to the site and has removed the piece of equipment for inspection, Melton said.

Melton said the Redwood City store does not have a record of previous problems.

A company spokeswoman said Friday Udo had worked at the Redwood City store for more than five years, and that he was well liked.

The death has sent a shock through the organization, Grocery Outlet spokeswoman Melissa Porter said.

“We are very dismayed, he was an employee that had been with us for a while,” Porter said.

Company officials were on site Friday working with OSHA and police investigators while trying to comfort employees, Porter said.

Porter said the machine involved in the accident is commonly used in retail outlets to compact cardboard into a bale for recycling. She described the machine as “complicated” and noted that it cannot be legally used by minors.

However, there were no witnesses to the accident, so store officials can only speculate on what happened, Porter said.

Store employees were given the choice of whether to open the store Friday, and chose to open late in the morning, Porter said.

“They’re a very tight family down there,” Porter said of the Redwood City store’s staff. “They’re being together and supporting each other.”