Safety Office at work, maybe they know Wally. 
Worker dies after falling into deep vat of chocolate BY GEORGE MAST • COURIER-POST STAFF • JULY 9, 2009
CAMDEN — A 29-year-old worker died Wednesday after falling into a tank of chocolate at a cocoa factory here.
Vincent Smith II of Camden was working on a platform above an 8-foot chocolate-melting tank when he fell around 10:30 a.m. at Cocoa Services in East Camden. A co-worker immediately hit an emergency shutoff switch and two other employees tried to pull Smith from the vat. However, the victim was fatally struck by a large paddle that mixes the chocolate, said Jason Laughlin, a spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor's Office. Firefighters removed Smith from the vat. He was pronounced dead at the scene at the plant in the 700 block of North 36th Street. Officials from the Evesham office of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating the incident, said Joanna Hawkins, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Labor Department. OSHA officials have six months to complete the investigation. Smith and two other men were loading chunks of chocolate into the tank when he fell through an opening into the tank, Laughlin said. The tank heats the chocolate at temperatures up to 120 degrees. "It appears to be an accident," Laughlin said. "This man unfortunately fell into this hole and passed away before anyone could rescue him." Smith was a temporary worker at the factory, which melts down pure chocolate and sells the melted product to companies that sweeten it and make it into candy, Laughlin said. Wednesday afternoon a visibly distraught man with chocolate covering his shorts and T-shirt paced outside the building. The cocoa operation is managed by Lyons & Sons Inc. The aging brick plant, a former Campbell Soup Co. facility that has processed chocolate for about six years, closed for the day after the incident, Laughlin said. Hawkins said the only other incident reported at the plant occurred five years ago and involved an exterminating crew working at the plant. An official from Lyons & Sons could not be reached Wednesday. Reach George Mast at (856) 486-2465 or gmast@camden.gannett.com
