The owner of a meat business in western Michigan was ordered to pay $1,143

“Two months later, we wouldn’t even be here,” the judge said, noting that the teen soon would have turned 18 years old.

“Ionia County is a farming county, and I know a lot of people in this county view children working, sometimes around dangerous machinery, as part of growing up,” [the judge] said.

He said the boy was warned to never put his hand inside the grinder.

What the FUCK

Until they start jailing the people hiring and maiming children, this will continue to be seen as little more than the cost of doing business.

So a hand is worth a little more than a thousand dollars... What's a whole body worth?

Great fucking job, the country which was seen as a symbol of modernization is rolling back to the 1920s.

Jfc. The fine should have been $1 mil with half going to the kid.

Yeah, not surprising and not new.

I mean it's nice to see this getting some light and on this but honestly nothing new outside of crappy Republicans looking to get rid of parental consent to have these accidents happen.

I was one of these kids that worked at 14, with my parents signing off on the work permit, to keep food in the table and that check is honestly worthless since once you got the job all enforcement and checks are ignored outside of one rule. I've had a friend get his thumb caught between a roller at the age of 15 that he shouldn't have been allowed to work on, another of that suffered chemical burns. I've had my fair share of working machines that by law I shouldn't have been working at and had a few injuries but thankfully nothing maiming.

There were was never anyone who checked out enforced any of the rules and none of us ever complained because, well there's a reason were working these jobs and not a cushy retail job, and none of these companies ever suffered any meaningful consequences. The laws and enforcement were and remain laughably inadequate except the one rule as I've said, the hours worked. They followed the number of hours we're allowed to work because that's the only thing anyone ever really checked on probably because that would be the only thing that would trigger audits.

Over twenty years later and nothing has really changed and only getting worse thanks to Republicans.

The fine is $1,143 BTW

And no way they throw out an industrial grinder. So even with a good cleaning we've returned to the good old days where human flesh wasn't uncommon in meat production. Welcome to America

Personal responsibility! Ridiculous that this child wasn't more responsible and cost his employer 2 years of wages for a teenager

Oh boy, a fine!

Michigan should really have more uproar over this, this should be completely unacceptable.

Just US news...

This is the best summary I could come up with:

IONIA, Mich. (AP) — The owner of a meat business in western Michigan was ordered to pay $1,143 Tuesday after a 17-year-old worker lost his hand in a grinder.

Ionia County Judge Ray Voet said the accident was a “horrible tragedy” but didn’t warrant jail or probation for Darin Wilbur, WOOD-TV reported.

The teenager lost his hand in 2019 while working at US Guys Processing in Saranac, 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Grand Rapids.

“Two months later, we wouldn’t even be here,” the judge said, noting that the teen soon would have turned 18 years old.

Defense attorney Howard Van Den Heuvel said Wilbur hired the teen, a high school dropout, as a way to help him.

He said the boy was warned to never put his hand inside the grinder.

I'm a bot and I'm open source!

I hope they at least had to help him find it. /s

The kid is a high school dropout. What's he going to do with no education and just one hand? How is he supposed to make a living?

How is the type of accident even possible in 2023? We've had a century to evolve industrial safety.

Lastly, that judge is an asshole. "2 months later and we wouldn't even be here" ... irrelevant. We had to draw the line somewhere. That line is there to protect the vulnerable.

And that nonsense about dangerous machinery just part of growing up? Not in a long, long time. We used to have a lot more kids back then too, because we expected we'd lose some to disease or injury.

We evolved.

I mean, the judge hasn't, but the world has.