not an accident

Ronald Lee MacKnight, 39, suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Monday, April 13, 2015 while working for Awnings and More Inc. in Farr West, Utah. The Salt Lake Tribune reports: the incident happened "when a modular home [MacKnight] was helping to move fell on top of him” the incident occurred "at the Westwood Village mobile home retirement community at 12:25 pm local time" ABC4News reports: MacKnight and a co-worker “had the home up on jacks” and they were underneath it. "Either the jack failed or it came off of the jacks and it ended up coming down on top of him,” according to Lieutenant…
Jeffrey Shannon, 49 suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Monday, March 30, 2015 while working at Sunoco’s Marcus Hook Industrial Complex in Delaware County, PA. 6ABC reports: ”It happened around 2:15 p.m. at Blue Ball Avenue and Post Road on the grounds of the refinery.” NPR’s State Impact Pennsylvania reports: "The worker died from multiple blunt force injuries after a 1200 foot pylon fell on him." Mr. Shannon was a contractor at the site and he worked for the engineering firm AECOM. The facility is being converted from an oil refinery to a natural gas storage and processing plant. "In…
James “Rusty Shake-Down” Harrison, 35, suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Wednesday, March 11, 2015 while working at a drilling operation in southeastern, New Mexico. KCBD reports: The incident happened around 3:30 p.m. According to the Lea County Sheriff's Office “workers were loading oil field related materials into perforated pipe, which was being installed into the drilling pipe when an explosion occurred.” “The oil field site belonged to Mesquite SWD.” Mr. Harrison, and another worker who was seriously injured in the incident, were employed by  Warrior Wireline. Sarah Matott of the…
Jose Alfredo Isagirrez-Mejia work-related death could have been prevented. That’s how I see the findings of Federal OSHA in the agency’s citations against his employer, Structural Prestressed Industries. The 29-year-old was working in July 2014 at one of the company’s construction sites in Fort Lauderdale, FL. The initial press reports indicated that workers were lowering a steel beam into place when it “came crashing down.”  I wrote about the incident shortly after it was reported by local press. Inspectors with federal OSHA conducted an inspection at the construction site following the…
Alejandro Anguiana, 41, suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Friday, March 6, 2015 while working at Markman Peat Corp. in Kingsbury, Indiana. ABC57 reports: Mr. Anguiana was a payload/forklift operator. A co-worker found Mr. Anguiana trapped in a running piece of machinery. EMS was called to the scene at 6:20 am. WISHTV says the machinery was a “peat-loading conveyor belt.” WSBT.com reports: “Sheriff John Boyd said the man was pulled in when his sweatshirt got wrapped around the power takeoff shaft that turns to operate the machine. “ “Several employees were involved in turning off the…
John P. Stoll, 58, suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Friday, February 20, 2015 while working at a construction site in the 1100 block of John Nolen Dr. in Madison, Wisconsin. Channel3000.com reports: EMS was called to the scene at 7:38 am to respond to “an entrapment” Firefighters said a crew was “working on a stairwell when it collapsed” When completed, the construction project will be the site of the Watermark Lofts, an apartment and retail space scheduled to open this summer. The Daily Reporter says Mr. Stoll was an employee of Badgerland Metal Building Erectors, but their story does…
Norberto Romero, 49, suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Monday, February 16, 2015 while working at Thomas Concrete on Canton Road in Marrietta, GA. The Examiner reports The incident occurred at about 3:05 pm “when someone called 911 to report that someone was trapped inside a concrete silo” Firefighters worked "throughout the evening to free the man's trapped body….[it] was recovered around 9 pm" WXIA explains that Romero, 49, was one of “two subcontractors from Texas [who] were cleaning the inside of the cement silo. …Romero attempted to unclog a ‘hopper’ in the silo, he fell into and…
Marvis L. Myers, 31, suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Friday, February 6, 2015 while working for the City of Columbia, SC. WISTV reports: The incident occurred at a construction site on Pulaski Street near College Street. The victim was underground “working on pipe repairs when a cave-in occurred.” TheState.com says He was “6 to 8 feet below ground level” The incident happened about 11:40 am local time. The incident is being investigated by South Carolina OSHA (SC-OSHA). The agency is in one of the 25 states that operates its own federally-approved occupational health and safety program.…
Jason Strycharz, 40 suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Monday, January 23, 2015 while working at Primary Steel, LLC in Middletown, CT. AP reports: The incident occurred around 9 am. The fire marshal Albert Santostefano says the worker was struck by a piece of steel as it was swinging on a crane inside the warehouse. NBC Connecticut quotes the fire marshal: "They were in the process of moving some steel around inside the warehouse part of the building, and somehow the steel got swinging. It was on a crane inside the warehouse and it struck one of the employees." Some news accounts report the…
Richard Johnson, 31 suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Monday, January 12, 2015 while working at Southwest Fabrication’s facility in Phoenix, AZ ABC15 reports: It was the worker’s last shift at the company (he was moving on to a new job.)[His aunt alerted me that this report is incorrect.] “His clothes got entangled in a metal fabrication machine.” A former employee indicated he was involved in a serious incident at the plant in September 2014. ‘No one ever talked to me about safety or how to use the equipment.  … ‘My shirt got caught around the spinning bar. I was pulled into the machine.…
Timothy Todd Winding, 50, suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Tuesday, December 30 while working at Ford Motor Company’s Kansas City assembly plant located in Claycomo, MO. Fox4KC reports: He was part of a crew of contractors who were working to retool the plant for a new line of Ford trucks. While working on a body marriage machine, "a safety rod broke on the decker and crushed the worker.” “Several of the workers FOX 4 spoke to Tuesday say that this is not the first time that machine has broken, and say they were worried something like this was going to happen." KCTV5 says Winding's…
Elbert C. Woods’ work-related death could have been prevented. That’s how I see the findings of Federal OSHA in the agency’s citations against his employer, Cleveland Track Material. The 45-year-old was working in August 2014 at the company’s Cleveland plant when he was pulled into machinery. I wrote about the incident shortly after it was reported by local press. Inspectors with OSHA conducted an inspection at Cleveland Track following Woods’ death. The agency recently issued citations to the firm for six serious violations and proposed a $49,000 penalty. The violations all involved gross…
Stanley Thomas Wright’s work-related death could have been prevented. That’s how I see the findings of Nevada OSHA in the agency’s citations against his employer, Rebel Oil Company. The 47-year-old was working in August 2014 at a railyard in North Las Vegas, NV. Wright was asphyxiated while working inside a tank car. I wrote about the incident shortly after it was reported by local press. Inspectors with Nevada OSHA conducted an inspection at the railyard following Wright’s death. The agency recently issued citations to Rebel Oil for three serious violations and proposed a $11,475 penalty.…
Gary Keenen, 26, and Kelsey Bellah, 27 suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Friday, December 19 while working on a drilling rig two miles west of Colgate, OK. News reports provide some initial information on the workers’ deaths: The explosion and fire occurred at a rig owned by Pablo Energy. A representative of the State Fire Marshall’s office indicated that three other workers were injured. “Two were transported to trauma centers in critical condition, while another sustained burns to his hands." Current reporting does not indicate whether the deceased and injured victims worked for Pablo…
Ricardo Ramos’ work-related death could have been prevented. That’s how I see the findings of Michigan OSHA in the agency’s citations against his employer, Hillshire Brands. The 49-year-old was working in May 2014 on the overnight cleaning crew at the company’s Zeeland, Michigan plant when he was caught and pulled into a piece of machinery. The facility prepares and packages Jimmy Dean sausage. I wrote about the incident shortly after it was reported by local press. Inspectors with Michigan OSHA conducted an inspection at the Hillshire plant following Ramos’ death. The agency recently issued…
Jesus Velazquez Mendizabal, 43, suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Friday, November 28, while working for Formica Construction in Travis, NY located on Staten Island. SILive.com provides some of the details on the worker’s death: “Mendizabal and three workers were dismantling the old [Dana Ford Lincoln] dealership…when the mezzanine gave out and collapsed to the ground." Mendizabal was “trapped under the rubble. ...The other three workers escaped the cave-in unharmed.” Mendizabal had been employed by Formica Construction for 10 years. NY1.com reports: "Officials say they received a report…
Juan Carlos Reyes’ work-related death could have been prevented. That’s how I see the findings of federal OSHA in the agency’s citations against his employer, Angel AAA Electric, LLC. The 35-year-old was working at a construction site in Harlingen, TX for a new Marriott hotel. He suffered fatal traumatic injuries in May 2014 when he fell from scaffolding while moving supplies into a fourth floor window. I wrote about the incident shortly after it was reported by local press. Federal inspectors out of OSHA’s Corpus Christi, TX office conducted an inspection of the worksite following Reyes’…
Milton “Tito” Rafael Barreto Hernandez, 22, suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Tuesday, October 28, while working for Scott Materials in Scott, Louisiana. KLFY provides some initial information on the worker’s death: His employer, Scott Materials, is a “concrete crushing company.” A supervisor and another employee were with Hernandez when the accident occurred. They were working to remove debris from a conveyor belt on a piece of heavy machinery. The equipment was turned back on and Hernandez was pulled into the machine. OSHA’s on-line inspection data suggests Scott Materials has not been…
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…
William Jeffrey Belk, 29, suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Friday, September 26 while working at the Boise Cascade Wood Products plant in Moncure, NC. News reports provide some initial information on the worker’s death: “The Chatham County Sheriff's Office says a worker at a wood products company died when a piece of machinery fell on him.” John Sahlberg, senior vice president of Human Resources at Boise Cascade, told The Sanford Herald: "The equipment had a C-clamp, and somehow or another, the C-clamp was up and came down on him. We don't have details as to what he was doing or why the C…