An employee at an Atlanta hotel froze to death in a walk-in freezer, and employees of the hotel and officials from the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) say there should have been better safety measures in place to prevent her death.

Carolyn Mangham’s husband called the Westin Peachtree Plaza in Atlanta, GA when he started to worry that she hadn’t come home from work yet. She was found in the freezer after surveillance tapes showed her going in and not coming back out. It was estimated that she had been inside for 13 hours. The freezer had an exit button. After the incident in March, the button was tested 30 times and opened the door every time but in an April inspection, and OSHA official and a hotel employee became stuck when the button malfunctioned during the test.

Other employees at the hotel are asking to be provided with panic buttons that they could carry, to be used if they ever find themselves in an emergency situation. They also want a communication device placed inside the freezer so that if an employee was stuck or got injured they could use the device from the inside to call for help. OSHA officials recommend that the hotel put a check-in system into place to keep track of employees, especially those whose work requires them to enter these freezers.

OSHA proposed $12,500 in fines for the serious safety violation of obstructing the exit door. A spokeswoman for Starwood Hotels (the hotel’s parent company), Carrie Bloom, said that they plan to contest the findings.