Not an "accident": John Dunnivant, 57, suffers fatal work-related injury at Kia Motors plant in West Point, Georgia

John Dunnivant, 57, suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Tuesday, October 7, while working at a Kia Motors manufacturing plant. The facility is located in West Point, Georgia, off of I-85 near the Alabama-state line. WTVM provides some initial information on the worker's death:

• Police and fire were called to the plant at 11:10 am local time.
• Dunnivant worked in maintenance and was crushed by a stamping machine.
• Kia management cancelled the remaining workshifts the day of Dunnivant’s death, but production began again the next day.

Ben Wright of the Ledger-Enquirer reports:

• Dunnivant was found in the steel press section of the facility.
• The county coroner reports that Dunnivant “was moving something very heavy and it fell on him.”
• The Korean automaker employs about 3,000 people at the West Point operation. The plant builds the Kia Sorento, Hyundai Santa Fe, and Kia Optima.
• In January 2008 when this Kia Motors plant was being constructed, a worker employed by Superior Rigging & Erecting Co. was struck by a beam and suffered fatal injuries.

The Ledger-Enquirer’s Wright also provides information on Dunnivant’s memorial, including his family’s request:

“Instead of flowers, donations may go to Native American orphanages or schools in his memory.”

Each year, dozens of workers in Georgia are fatally injured on-the-job. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports 70 work-related fatal injuries in Georgia during 2013 (preliminary data, most recent available.) Nationwide, at least 4,405 workers suffered fatal traumatic injuries in 2013.

The AFL-CIO’s annual Death on the Job report notes:

• Federal OSHA has 49 inspectors in Georgia to cover more than 214,000 workplaces.
• The average penalty for a serious OSHA violation in Georgia is $2,061.

Federal OSHA has until early April 2015 to issue any citations and penalties related to the incident that stole John Dunnivant’s life. It’s likely they’ll determine that Dunnivant’s death was preventable. It was no “accident.”