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PCA employee killed in apparent workplace accident at Counce paper mill

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A Packaging Corporation of America employee was killed Thursday afternoon in a workplace incident, the Hardin County Sheriff’s Department reports.

Jesse Cole Jordan, 31, of Stantonville, Tennessee died in what HCSD Investigator Jeremy Hulen said this afternoon appears to be an accident.

According to a preliminary investigative report, Hardin County E-911 was called at 12:42 p.m., and Hulen was notified and dispatched to the scene at about 3:10 p.m.

Hulen said Jordan was working in the facility’s recycling building and operating a machine that is used to move heavy bales of paper. He said the machine is similar to a forklift, but has clamps that open and grasp the bales, instead of forks which slide under things and pick them up.

Hulen said there were no direct eyewitnesses to the incident, but it appears that Jordan was beneath the machine for some reason and the clamps released and fell on him.

Jordan was discovered trapped under the clamps by a co-worker. PCA employees used another machine to lift the clamps off of Jordan and an ambulance was called.

Jordan was transported to Hardin Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

Hulen said the matter remains under investigation.

PCA Counce Mill Operations Manager Janet Wright emailed The Courier a statement Friday afternoon.

It says that “Jordan, a PCA employee died at the Counce Mill in Counce, Tennessee as a result of a clamp truck accident. Our condolences and prayers are with his family and others in his life.”

He “was a valued employee at PCA and will be missed by his coworkers. We are conducting a full review to determine the cause of the accident and take all appropriate steps to prevent a similar incident.”