Milwaukee Worker Rescued From Cement Mixer

May 23--A 43-year-old worker remains in critical condition Thursday afternoon after getting trapped in a cement mixing machine in the morning, but his injuries are not life-threatening, Milwaukee police said.

The Milwaukee Police Department is investigating the industrial accident, which was reported shortly before 8 a.m. Thursday.

Milwaukee Fire Battalion 2 received a call at 7:48 a.m. about a person with an arm caught in a machine at Sic Lazaro on N. Teutonia Ave., but while on the way, responders learned an entire person was trapped, Battalion Chief Raymond Groth said.

The fire department then called for the Heavy Urban Rescue Team, which carries more equipment than any other unit.

"It gives us a few more options for how to respond," Groth said.

It took firefighters 30 to 45 minutes to rescue the worker, who is from Cudahy. Firefighters called for a medical helicopter. But it was grounded due to weather, so the worker was taken to Froedtert Hospital by a fire department medical unit.

The cement mixer seemed to be portable with an elevated platform, about as high as being on the second floor of a building, and had a 5-foot-deep mixing box containing heavy steel panels, Groth said.

There was no cement in the mixer at the time, and authorities believe the man may have been cleaning the machine.

Sic Lazaro is a Spanish manufacturer that makes counterweights for cranes, elevators and other industrial uses. In January 2012, it bought the 138,870-square-foot building at 7040-7100 N. Teutonia Ave. for $1.7 million.

The accident is under investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

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