Trapped: Deaths inside freezers can be prevented, but how?

ATLANTA -- Trapped in a walk-in hotel freezer with subzero temperatures, Carolyn Robinson Mangham knocked so desperately on the door, the skin on her knuckles wore away, her husband said in a lawsuit.

When the door finally opened 13 hours later, the coroner said, the 61-year-old kitchen worker was lying on the metal floor, wearing her black shoes and pants, a white cook's shirt and a black apron. Her head and eyes were frozen solid.

Mangham, who died in March in Atlanta, was among a handful of workers found dead in freezers in the last 15 years, federal records show. Some were trapped by broken doors and froze to death or were overcome by lethal fumes.

Experts say the deaths are preventable, but it's not likely the federal government will draw up any specific regulations dealing with freezers. One reason: They're more inclined to enforce broad rules for employers, such as making clear exits available.

"There's no question that technologies exist -- old and new -- that could address this issue," said David Ringholz, chairman of the industrial design department at Iowa State University.

Motion sensors, for instance, could disable doors anytime movement is detected inside a large walk-in freezer, he said. Other experts suggested alarms, a cellphone or even an axe be kept inside to help someone get out.

Some safety upgrades would cost hundreds or thousands of dollars, and that expense can be a big obstacle to improvements.

There had been problems with the freezer door at the Westin Peachtree Plaza hotel in Atlanta, according to the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages. Several months before Mangham's death, an exit mechanism failed inside the 12-by-10 freezer, and a hotel employee "had to beat on a back wall in order for someone to let her out," the medical examiner's report states.

When Mangham died, the medical examiner, OSHA and a representative of an equipment-servicing company performed more than 30 tests on the door's exit device, and it opened properly each time, hotel spokeswoman Sally McDonald said.

Three weeks later, however, the exit button malfunctioned during a follow-up inspection, this time trapping two people, who had to beat on the door to alert others outside to free them, the autopsy report states.

OSHA found the hotel exposed workers to hazards and levied a fine of more than $12,000 in Mangham's death. The hotel agreed to frequent and regular inspections of its freezers, including the door-release mechanisms, the agency said.

After Mangham's death, her co-workers and their union, UNITE HERE, demanded emergency buttons be placed inside the freezers so if someone becomes trapped, that person can alert building security or the fire department. The hotel hasn't said whether it plans to have the buttons.

Westin Peachtree Plaza workers also are pushing for a better way of tracking employees, so if someone disappears as Mangham did, others will know to look for the person. The hotel has agreed to develop a procedure for workers to check in and out with others when they enter remote areas, OSHA said.

Aaron Rabinowitz found his father dead inside the freezer of his family's San Diego cafe nine years ago. He said he thinks some type of alarm would be a good idea, though it might not have helped his father because he was overcome quickly by the dry-ice fumes.

"I'm in there myself daily," said Rabinowitz, who now runs the cafe. "There are safety latches. They can freeze up where you have to give it a really good kick. Somebody who is not strong enough might have trouble with it, so I think that (the alarms) would be a nice extra level of safety beyond a safety latch."