At 4:45 p.m. on August 14, 2015, Employee #1, a maintenance worker, was lowered into a 12-foot tall 8,000-gallon polyethylene tank using a rope with a loop to stand on and the other end connected to a rough terrain forklift operated by the manager of the farm. The tank was used to store liquid whey added to the animal feed. Employee #1 was instructed to open a broken ball valve so the liquid whey would flow faster out of the tank. Employee #1 lost consciousness and was found face-down in the tank by the manager. Employee #1 was asphyxiated and died due to a low oxygen environment and probable high concentrations of fermentation gases.
