Worker fatally crushed by robotic machine at frozen pizza plant, WI officials say

An employee at a frozen pizza manufacturing plant was fatally crushed by a robotic machine, Wisconsin officials told news outlets.

The incident happened Wednesday, Sept. 17, at a Palermo’s Pizza facility in Milwaukee, WITI reported.

A 45-year-old worker, identified as Robert Chereone, was killed by a robotic machine, though officials have not said how it happened, the outlet reported.

First responders arrived at the plant at about 6 a.m. and attempted life-saving measures, but the worker was pronounced dead at the scene, WISN reported.

An investigation is underway, and the pizza company said it is cooperating with authorities, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Officials with the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, an organization representing workers’ unions within the state, expressed “our deepest condolences to the family, friends, and co-workers of the worker killed in a workplace accident at Palermo’s Pizza today.”

“A fundamental principle of our union movement has always been that an injury to one is an injury to all. While employees at the Palermo facility are not currently organized in a union, we nonetheless share the pain of a fellow worker losing their life on the job,” Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Stephanie Bloomingdale said in a statement.

This story was originally published September 18, 2025 at 8:50 AM with the headline "Worker fatally crushed by robotic machine at frozen pizza plant, WI officials say."