Oakland woman died in printing press accident

By Ari Burack and Laura Dudnick

January 30, 2008

A San Francisco printing company employee who was killed on the job yesterday has been identified as Margarita Mojica, 26, of Oakland, according to the San Francisco medical examiner's office.

The industrial accident was reported at around 11:30 a.m. at Digital Pre-Press International, located at 645 Mariposa St., said San Francisco fire Lt. Ken Smith.

Emergency crews came to her aid within minutes and were able to manually release the machine and pull Mojica out, but she succumbed to her injuries and was declared dead at the scene, Smith said.

She suffered head and chest trauma, according to California Occupational Safety and Health Administration spokeswoman Kate Macguire.

Employees at the San Francisco printing company are shaken up by the accident and were set to meet with grief counselors, Smith said.

The printing and lithography company has not had any safety violations reported in the past five years, Macguire said.

Yesterday's incident is the city's second fatal industrial accident in two days.

On Monday, Luis Gonzalez, 43, of Ceres, Calif., was crushed to death when a five-story high boiler collapsed at the former Pacific Gas & Electric Co. power plant located at 1000 Evans Ave.

The California Occupational Safety and Health Administration launched investigations into both industrial accidents, Macguire said.

Any time there an employee suffers an injury in a workplace that requires at least one overnight stay at a hospital, state health and safety officials are required to investigate, according to Macguire.

The investigation includes determining what happened factually; whether any violations to health and safety codes took place and what may have caused or contributed to the accident; and whether changes need to be made to improve safety and prevent accidents from happening in the future, Macguire said.

Each investigation will most likely take two to three months, although the safety and health administration has up to six months to investigate according to California state law, Macguire said.

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