Federal, state safety officials probe Wisconsin dumbwaiter death

Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating

WISCONSIN (Reuters) — Federal and state investigations into worker safety have been launched into the death of a 21-year-old college student whose body was found in a dumbwaiter at a bar and grill in western Wisconsin, officials said on Friday.

Brooke Baures, a student at Winona State University and former member of its gymnastics team, was found dead Monday evening in the food elevator at the Wingdam Bar and Saloon where she worked in Fountain City, Wisconsin.

Preliminary reports indicated that Baures became caught in the dumbwaiter, said Rhonda Burke, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which is investigating her death.

Deaths involving food elevators are rare, but not unheard of, according to OSHA. The last similar U.S. death in OSHA records was in 2011, when a worker died after falling onto an overloaded dumbwaiter at a restaurant in Oklahoma City.

Fountain City Police Chief Jason Mork has said there was no indication of foul play in her death or that anyone was fooling around with the dumbwaiter.

Staff were using the dumbwaiter on Monday evening to move food up from the first floor kitchen to the second floor of the two-story restaurant, Mork said. The dumbwaiter opening is about 3 feet by 3 feet, he said.

Mork said on Friday he had received preliminary autopsy results on Baures and continues to gather evidence, but would not make the findings public until he speaks with her family early next week.

"I'm still looking at the question of not why she got in there, but how she got in," Mork said on Friday.

The Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services investigates workplace incidents involving machinery such as dumbwaiters and is investigating Baures' death, spokeswoman Hannah Zillmer said.

Winona State held a vigil on Wednesday for Baures, a senior who was majoring in social work. Fountain City is about 7 miles northwest of the university in Winona, Minnesota.

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