Canada - Gursimran Kaur, 19, Walmart worker found dead inside bakery oven - October 22, 2024

[Luna20]

<rsbm>

Does not have to mean self induced. MOD also includes natural causes and accident/misadventure

I'm leaning toward workplace accident due to the Department of Labour having taken over the investigation

from: Halifax police say Walmart employee's death isn't suspicious, refuse to release details

Now that police have ruled out criminality, the labour department says it has assumed the lead in the ongoing workplace investigation.

In a statement, the department says it remains an active investigation, but it is unable to provide further details at this time.

"Workplace investigations are complex and take time," said Sarah MacNeil, a spokesperson for the department in an email to CTV News.

The department did say the oven was "assessed and determined to have been operating as per the manufacturer's requirements."


Then from: https://surge105.ca/2024/11/18/police-walmart-death-in-bakery-oven-not-suspicious/

“The store has been undergoing renovations for several months as part of our standard remodel program. Out of respect, we paused construction immediately after this tragic event. While the store remains closed, we will resume work on these previously-planned renovations,” explained Moss. “At this time, we don’t have a confirmed timeline for completion. Our store remains closed until further notice.”

<bbm>

Just speculating, but as the store had been undergoing renos, I'm wondering if there was possibly some electrical type of work that could have resulted in a malfunction, and a malfunction could have caused some normal safety features of the oven to be inoperative.

Good point, it could be an accident. That would also be a reason why they aren’t reporting more details. If so the legalities will be complicated for WM.

I’m still having a hard time understanding what made her mother so anxious within an hour and going to the oven to look for her.

 

[thref23]

It was reported that her mother only looked in the oven after other staff members reported "leakage" coming from the oven.

I am not sure exactly what made her mother so anxious within an hour, but I'm sure there are details withheld that make everything make sense.

 

[HMSHood]

This whole case is tragic and bizarre. Did anyone see anything that was not right?

 

[Luna20]

It was reported that her mother only looked in the oven after other staff members reported "leakage" coming from the oven.

I am not sure exactly what made her mother so anxious within an hour, but I'm sure there are details withheld that make everything make sense.

Even that is odd. What would prompt the employees to say leakage is coming from the oven? I would get a manager before telling her mother that it is leaking. There is no way that I would say anything to her mother.

When weird things happen on the job site, calling a manager is protocol. Getting in to a conversation with her over her daughter in that type of horror isn’t wise.

‘Come over here, we see leakage’? They don’t know why it was leaking. It implies that someone had reason to believe a body was in there. It hasn’t happened before so they don’t have anything to compare it to.

I’m not saying that it’s foul play but saying anything under these circumstances is an unusual thing for an employee to opine on or point to. I don’t know what the bylaws are but I doubt that it claims that the employee should handle this type of extreme situation alone.

It could be that the person who pointed to the leakage was a senior level manager.

 

[Luna20]

This whole case is tragic and bizarre. Did anyone see anything that was not right?

An employee told her mother that they saw leakage coming from the oven. Above post #424.

 

[abyquinn]

Even that is odd. What would prompt the employees to say leakage is coming from the oven? I would get a manager before telling her mother that it is leaking. There is no way that I would say anything to her mother.

When weird things happen on the job site, calling a manager is protocol. Getting in to a conversation with her over her daughter in that type of horror isn’t wise.

‘Come over here, we see leakage’? They don’t know why it was leaking. It implies that someone had reason to believe a body was in there. It hasn’t happened before so they don’t have anything to compare it to.

I’m not saying that it’s foul play but saying anything under these circumstances is an unusual thing for an employee to opine on or point to. I don’t know what the bylaws are but I doubt that it claims that the employee should handle this type of extreme situation alone.

It could be that the person who pointed to the leakage was a senior level manager.

Some of the reports were that mom eventually got a supervisor to help her look, after mom looked for “some time” - I haven’t seen anything that legitimately gives the length of time mom searched. Some articles said Simran was found after an hour and others say several hours.

I would hope if a manager/supervisor noticed the leakage they would’ve stopped mom from opening the door. I also don’t know what they expected to find or what led them to looking in that spot.

 

[Charlot123]

Good point, it could be an accident. That would also be a reason why they aren’t reporting more details. If so the legalities will be complicated for WM.

I’m still having a hard time understanding what made her mother so anxious within an hour and going to the oven to look for her.

There could have been reasons. On the other hand, if they were always so close together, perhaps not even seeing the child for an hour would feel unusual.
I also wonder, you know you can always see the family iphone. If the daughter had an IPhone and turned if off, mom couldn't see the iPhone (the daughter's position) and felt anxious.

 

[touch]

Even that is odd. What would prompt the employees to say leakage is coming from the oven? I would get a manager before telling her mother that it is leaking. There is no way that I would say anything to her mother.

Maybe the mum was the line manager of the employee?
Maybe the employee didn't know what the leakage was and just thought it needed cleaning. Could the mum be a cleaner?

 

[Gemmie]

Some of the reports were that mom eventually got a supervisor to help her look, after mom looked for “some time” - I haven’t seen anything that legitimately gives the length of time mom searched. Some articles said Simran was found after an hour and others say several hours.

I would hope if a manager/supervisor noticed the leakage they would’ve stopped mom from opening the door. I also don’t know what they expected to find or what led them to looking in that spot.

Don't all walk-in commercial bakery ovens have large windows on their doors so you can see inside? I'm pretty sure they do. I'm thinking it would be pretty evident a body was lying on the floor. I know peering through the window, it I hadn't noticed a large shape lying on the floor through the window as I approached, would be the first thing I'd do had I been looking for a person and noticed leakage coming out of the oven. I just can't imagine a shape wasn't noticeable on the floor through the window.

JMO

 

[Luna20]

Maybe the mum was the line manager of the employee?
Maybe the employee didn't know what the leakage was and just thought it needed cleaning. Could the mum be a cleaner?

There could have been reasons. On the other hand, if they were always so close together, perhaps not even seeing the child for an hour would feel unusual.
I also wonder, you know you can always see the family iphone. If the daughter had an IPhone and turned if off, mom couldn't see the iPhone (the daughter's position) and felt anxious.

Some of the reports were that mom eventually got a supervisor to help her look, after mom looked for “some time” - I haven’t seen anything that legitimately gives the length of time mom searched. Some articles said Simran was found after an hour and others say several hours.

I would hope if a manager/supervisor noticed the leakage they would’ve stopped mom from opening the door. I also don’t know what they expected to find or what led them to looking in that spot.

Don't all walk-in commercial bakery ovens have large windows on their doors so you can see inside? I'm pretty sure they do. I'm thinking it would be pretty evident a body was lying on the floor. I know peering through the window, it I hadn't noticed a large shape lying on the floor through the window as I approached, would be the first thing I'd do had I been looking for a person and noticed leakage coming out of the oven. I just can't imagine a shape wasn't noticeable on the floor through the window.

JMO

It’s an unusual situation with conflicting reports. I’ve seen reports of people freezing to death in commercial zone freezers but not in an oven. It’s horrific to think about.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

There has been another walk-in oven case in recent years. It's probably easy to find online. It was man who did "nap" in the oven, and a coworker failed to check it. I think that case is where some of the theories here come from. It may have been outside of North America, as I vaguely recall it. Extremely tragic.

 

[Dotta]

There are many workplace tragic accidents all over the world.
The most terrifying I read about was the worker who fell into an industrial shredder
It even has a WS thread here.

Workplace safety trainings for employees are very important.

JMO

 

[al66pine]

Locater App on Family IPhone. "Find My"

@Charlot123 Thx for your post, prompting me to think about this. My AIKDS (Acute IPhone-Knowledge Deficiency Syndrome) hampers my comprehension of how useful a locator or tracking app may have been.

Assuming Mother & Daughter had a shared IPhone or smart phone tracking or locator app (IIUC, "Find My" app released in Sept 2019, for "Operating system iOS 13 or later"),* on Mother's phone the app would display location of Dau's phone.
Sample screen on wiki's "Find My" app displays area of 5 blocks by 8 blocks.

Find My - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Q 1. How much "closer in" could a user specify?
Q 2. How SPECIFIC or accurate would the app's results be?
For both Qs, within __ feet or yards?
Can someone here who uses Find My app post either the settings users may choose or a sample of a locator results, when app is set for "closest in" choice.
Sorry for unfamiliarity w iPhones & apps.

That Walmart is 145,000 sq. ft.** or ~ 3.3 acres, a biiig store.
If store is configured in a square, then each exterior wall = ~ 380 feet long.

If app results display a phone's location within a 50 or 100 ft area, how helpful would it have been in this situation? IDK how long Mother was looking for Dau.

Maybe totally irrelevant to the investigation, but I'm curious.

____________________________
* tracking Mobile phone tracking - Wikipedia
** "Find My" app. Find My - Wikipedia
** 2013 MSM states new Walmart on Mumford is 145,000 square feet.
Wal-Mart Opens 1st Supercenter in Atlantic Canada
*** IF 145,000 SF is configured in a square, that's ~ 380 ft for ea. ext'r wall.
Converting SF to acres by dividing 145,000 area value by 43,560 = 3.3 acres.

 

[Charlot123]

Locater App on Family IPhone. "Find My"

@Charlot123 Thx for your post, prompting me to think about this. My AIKDS (Acute IPhone-Knowledge Deficiency Syndrome) hampers my comprehension of how useful a locator or tracking app may have been.

Assuming Mother & Daughter had a shared IPhone or smart phone tracking or locator app (IIUC, "Find My" app released in Sept 2019, for "Operating system iOS 13 or later"),* on Mother's phone the app would display location of Dau's phone.
Sample screen on wiki's "Find My" app displays area of 5 blocks by 8 blocks.

Find My - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Q 1. How much "closer in" could a user specify?
Q 2. How SPECIFIC or accurate would the app's results be?
For both Qs, within __ feet or yards?
Can someone here who uses Find My app post either the settings users may choose or a sample of a locator results, when app is set for "closest in" choice.
Sorry for unfamiliarity w iPhones & apps.

That Walmart is 145,000 sq. ft.** or ~ 3.3 acres, a biiig store.
If store is configured in a square, then each exterior wall = ~ 380 feet long.

If app results display a phone's location within a 50 or 100 ft area, how helpful would it have been in this situation? IDK how long Mother was looking for Dau.

Maybe totally irrelevant to the investigation, but I'm curious.

____________________________
* tracking Mobile phone tracking - Wikipedia
** "Find My" app. Find My - Wikipedia
** 2013 MSM states new Walmart on Mumford is 145,000 square feet.
Wal-Mart Opens 1st Supercenter in Atlantic Canada
*** IF 145,000 SF is configured in a square, that's ~ 380 ft for ea. ext'r wall.
Converting SF to acres by dividing 145,000 area value by 43,560 = 3.3 acres.

From what I can tell about “find my” function:
- you have to “activate” it; there is a way to be “invisible” for your family, but I assume that GK and her mom were connected (that if they had iPhones).

It can tell you the location of your phone or the phones on your plan when they are rather far - we are talking miles and miles. Of course, the closer, the more precise the location is, but you can guess or extrapolate.

It will definitely tell you if the phone in question is close to you. Now, sometimes you don’t see “the exact location”, especially when there are a few devices in a proximity or a two-storeyed buildings (they might superimpose on each other), but you can see if one is more to the W to E wall, for example. You can push a sound to hear it. She would 100% be able to see an iPhone in a huge Walmart.

That is if it is active. If it is switched off, you can see its last position and how long ago it was “seen”. Or it will simply say, “off” or “not seen.”

As I have said, it is not a newer function. In older phones it works well, too.

I assume that Androids have similar apps; I don’t know what Hiawei has, but the function is convenient, so I expect that there should be similar location apps on most smartphones. Statistically, people like iPhones so I expect for new immigrants maybe to get hand-me-downs from friends, or buy an older model, but iPhones are prevalent.

Mom could see GK’s phone being left at home, or not responding (if switched off), or even not responding if inactivated by the heat. Something like this, I suspect, the difference between what is expected and what you really see would make you very anxious. JMO.

 

[al66pine]

Family iPhone. "Find My" App. Useful Here?

From what I can tell about “find my” function:
- you have to “activate” it; there is a way to be “invisible” for your family, but I assume that GK and her mom were connected (that if they had iPhones).

It can tell you the location of your phone or the phones on your plan when they are rather far - we are talking miles and miles. Of course, the closer, the more precise the location is, but you can guess or extrapolate.

It will definitely tell you if the phone in question is close to you. Now, sometimes you don’t see “the exact location”, especially when there are a few devices in a proximity or a two-storeyed buildings (they might superimpose on each other), but you can see if one is more to the W to E wall, for example. You can push a sound to hear it. She would 100% be able to see an iPhone in a huge Walmart.

That is if it is active. If it is switched off, you can see its last position and how long ago it was “seen”. Or it will simply say, “off” or “not seen.”

As I have said, it is not a newer function. In older phones it works well, too.

I assume that Androids have similar apps; I don’t know what Hiawei has, but the function is convenient, so I expect that there should be similar location apps on most smartphones. Statistically, people like iPhones so I expect for new immigrants maybe to get hand-me-downs from friends, or buy an older model, but iPhones are prevalent.

Mom could see GK’s phone being left at home, or not responding (if switched off), or even not responding if inactivated by the heat. Something like this, I suspect, the difference between what is expected and what you really see would make you very anxious. JMO.

@Charlot123 Thx for your response.
Makes sense.

 

[LadyL]

Something compelled her mother to look in the oven. As mentioned, I would look in the several areas I posted upthread. The oven would be the last place I would look.

<modsnip: There is no MSM or other approved source to indicate Gursimran was depressed.>

She became rather concerned after not seeing her for an hour and calling her phone repeatedly. I don’t think I would be panicking if it was an hour. Two or three maybe because that would be odd for an employee not to log back in. Her mother would know if she was irresponsible in her work ethic. So she probably knew that her daughter was responsible and wouldn’t be skipping out on hours.

Assuming that she knew that it was out of character for her daughter to screw up, that would cause her mother to be very anxious about something being seriously wrong.

They said there isn’t any foul play, as in homicide; it would make sense that it was self induced.

Just thinking…

someone told her about the leakage - that's why she looked

 

[Luna20]

someone told her about the leakage - that's why she looked

Sorry, are you asking me about that or are you confirming it? I can’t tell without a period or question mark.

 

[glamourkitty1922]

Good point, it could be an accident. That would also be a reason why they aren’t reporting more details. If so the legalities will be complicated for WM.

I’m still having a hard time understanding what made her mother so anxious within an hour and going to the oven to look for her.

Death of 19-year-old employee found in Walmart walk-in oven was not foul play, police say

“We do not believe anyone else was involved in the circumstances surrounding the woman’s death,” a Halifax Regional Police spokesperson said.

www.nbcnews.com

The Nova Scotia Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration also said it issued a stop-work order on Oct. 22 for the Walmart’s bakery and a piece of equipment at the store. The order was lifted on Oct. 28 “after the oven was assessed and determined to have been operating as per the manufacturer’s requirements.”
I hope the dept of labour will make it mandatory that two people be present to start the ovens so this type of thing doesn't happen again. Personally I think this was self harm because I don't see how this could be an accident and the oven had no malfunctions.
This is horrific and I would think it would be easy to prevent by having two people present to start the oven, but that is just my opinion.

 

[annpats]

I cant find anything linking self immolation to sikhism

Not Sikhism, but India in general.

Self-Immolation in India

Suicide by self-immolation is a common method of suicide among young, married women in India. The associated socio-cultural beliefs and unique historical context make self-immolation an important public health concern. The practice of Sati and Jauhar were prevalent...

link.springer.com

 

[annpats]

I suspect the young woman died from a medical emergency, not enough time to call anyone.

Sudden cardiac death springs to mind, yes it happens to young people. Think of the football players who collapse on the field and never knew they had a problem.

Often the first sign of cardiac problems is death from SCD. Google it, it’s more common than we like to think.

Yes, they were both working that shift, mother couldn’t locate her and had asked admin people to help find her.

And what were the chances that happened in the oven?

And then who turned the oven on?
Without putting anything in to bake?