Employees at the manufacturing facility on Old Georgia Highway were given the option of going home Friday following the accident. At least one coworker of James "J.R." Willard Redmon wonders how an accident like the one that took the longtime Nestle employee's life on Friday hasn't happened before.

"People have had close calls with that machine before," she said. "It's a wonder it hasn't happened before."

The employee said Redmon was working on an automated heister that runs along a track. A laser light on the machine is supposed to stop the equipment when someone crosses its path.

"This is a big loss for the family of Stouffer's because this man was definitely appreciated and loved," she said. "He was a good man and a hard worker and he loved his wife and family. His wife was the most important thing in the world to him."

The employee, who wished to remain anonymous, asked the community to pray for Redmon's family and for those people who have to work at dangerous jobs each day.

Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler pronounced Redmon, of 318 Ross Hill Road, Gaffney, dead at the scene. Redmon, who was celebrating his 65th birthday Friday, had worked at the plant on Old Georgia Highway for 24 years.

Redmon was a maintenance mechanic and was working on a crane in the freezer tower around 10:18 a.m. when he became trapped, Fowler said. Redmon suffered head injuries.

The coroner's office, Nestle and OSHA are continuing to investigate the incident.

"He was working in the warehouse at the Gaffney facility doing some sort of repair on a piece of equipment," Nestle Prepared Foods spokeswoman Roz O'Hearn said Friday. "What happened from there is what we are trying to figure out."

The refrigerated storage facility was shut down and remained closed Friday following the fatal accident. O'Hearn said the plant manager met with production employees, who work in a separate area from the warehouse, and informed them of the incident.

"We have brought in our employee assistance counselors to meet with the employees," O'Hearn said. "We offered to our employees the option of remaining on the job or if they thought they were upset and might compromise their own safety we offered them the option of leaving. Some employees did leave. The second shift had the same meeting.

"This is devastating to an employee community to have an employee die on the job, obviously we will be thoroughly investigating to see what happened. It's tragic," O'Hearn said.

Another employee at the plant was hospitalized July 16 when ammonia spilled on the man's face.