Parkland farm fined after death of employee

A Parkland vegetable grower faces a fine of $12,934, the maximum amount allowed, after a field worker was killed in May by a lightning strike.

Maria Francisco Pascual, 53, a Lake Worth mother of five and grandmother of 12, died from the jolt, while two other workers were injured. Federal inspectors found that C.W. Hendrix Farms did not follow proper procedures for stopping field work in inclement weather.

“This tragedy could have been prevented if the employer had trained management and employees on the hazards of working in severe weather,” said Condell Eastmond, Fort Lauderdale area director for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

An employee who answered the phone at Hendrix declined comment Wednesday and hung up the phone. The company can appeal the findings to the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Cucumbers, eggplants and bell

peppers grow at the farm at 12210 Loxahatchee Road, according to Produce Market Guide.

Pascual, a native of Guatemala, had worked at the farm for 15 years, starting as a pepper-picker and then keeping count of how many vegetables workers gathered each day, a relative

said.

A foreman had been discussing with employees whether to stop picking cucumbers because of thunder and lightning when Pascual was struck, according to the Broward Sheriff ’s Office.

Pascual’s cousin witnessed her death.

She had been holding a cellphone in one hand and a device that helped track the harvest in the other, her sister said.

Flooding, mud and weather safety concerns kept paramedics from reaching the scene, the Sheriff ’s Office reported.

The Broward Medical Examiner found that lightning entered Pascual’s head and exited through her foot.

Her body was flown to Guatemala for burial.