A man was seriously injured Friday after becoming trapped in industrial machinery at a food ingredients plant in New Berlin, triggering an hours-long, multi-agency rescue that required specialized extrication equipment and on-scene blood transfusions before he could be freed. The patient was taken to an area hospital in stable but serious condition following the rescue.
The New Berlin Fire Department reported in a press release that the man became trapped in industrial machinery at Denali Ingredients on Ryerson Road on Friday, according to FOX6 News Milwaukee. When emergency crews arrived at the scene, they found what the department described as a complex machinery entrapment requiring an extended and highly coordinated rescue operation. Denali Ingredients, the facility involved, is a food ingredients manufacturer that operates more than 110,000 square feet of production, warehousing, and office space across two sites on Calhoun Road and Ryerson Road in New Berlin, according to Denali Ingredients' own company history, which notes the plant was formerly operated by Eskimo Pie before the company purchased it in 2006.
Freeing the trapped worker demanded resources well beyond what a single department could offer. The City of Waukesha Fire Department's Special Services Team, a technical rescue unit of 36 members with at least 40 hours of technician-level training in collapse, confined space, rope, and trench rescues, according to the City of Waukesha, provided specialized equipment and personnel to help extricate the man from the machinery. The New Berlin Fire Department Medical Director also responded to the scene, and an additional physician and medical director arrived to provide further medical support during the operation.
Blood Given at the Scene as Rescuers Worked
Because the extrication stretched on for hours, crews called in resources typically reserved for the most severe trauma cases. Wauwatosa Fire Department's Med 51 was dispatched to the scene because it is one of the closest paramedic units in Milwaukee County equipped with field blood administration capabilities, the report notes, a resource used during prolonged extrications when there is a risk of severe traumatic hemorrhage. A physician from Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin also responded to provide advanced medical care during the extrication itself, working alongside firefighters, law enforcement, technical rescue specialists, and the company's own maintenance staff.
That combined team worked together to disassemble and manipulate the industrial equipment while simultaneously providing continuous medical care to the trapped man, per the same account. The effort ultimately succeeded, and the patient was freed from the machinery Friday before being transported to an area hospital in stable but serious condition.
Federal Rules Govern Reporting and Machine Safety
Incidents involving serious workplace injuries carry federal reporting obligations regardless of where they occur. Under OSHA regulation 29 CFR 1904.39, employers must report any work-related inpatient hospitalization, amputation, or eye loss to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration within 24 hours of learning about the event, with federal enforcement penalties possible for noncompliance. Separately, OSHA's Control of Hazardous Energy standard, known as lockout/tagout, mandates procedures to prevent machines from unexpectedly starting up during servicing; the agency notes that lockout/tagout deficiencies are among its most frequently cited workplace violations, with penalties for repeat violations reaching up to $161,323, according to OSHA. It remains unclear whether the man was performing routine operation or maintenance on the machinery at the time of the entrapment, and the exact mechanical cause of the incident has not been disclosed.
Denali Ingredients has been under the leadership of president and chief executive officer Jeremy Thompson since May 2024, when he took over following the retirement of longtime executive Neal Glaeser, who had led the company since it was established in New Berlin in 2006, according to Denali Ingredients. The company is majority-owned by Norwegian food supply enterprise Orkla Food Ingredients, which acquired an 84% stake in a deal valuing Denali at $200 million in November 2022, according to Orkla ASA.
Part of a Troubling Pattern in Waukesha County
Friday's entrapment is not the first serious industrial accident to strike New Berlin in recent years. In April 2025, a 37-year-old worker was killed in a machinery accident at a facility on West Lincoln Avenue in New Berlin, an incident that prompted a federal OSHA investigation, according to CBS 58. In February, an employee died following an industrial accident at Waukesha Iron & Metal Inc. in neighboring Waukesha, a case reviewed by local police and county medical examiners, according to WTMJ.
Those incidents reflect a broader statewide trend. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that contact with objects and equipment caused 27 fatal work injuries in Wisconsin in 2020, accounting for roughly a quarter of the state's occupational fatalities that year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Whether any OSHA inspection will follow Friday's rescue at Denali Ingredients has not yet been announced.
