occupational fatalities

Agrey Emile Coudakpo, 32, suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Friday, May 27 while working at Hanson Concrete Products.  WBFF reports: Howard County (Maryland) police say the victim “died after becoming trapped in a piece of heavy machinery.” Police and fire units were dispatched at about 5:20 a.m.” to the worksite. WBFF’s and other news sources indicate the incident occurred at Hanson Concrete Products on Dorsey Run Road. A the same address is another business named Concrete Pipe & Precast (CP&P) which is the joint venture company formed by Hanson Pipe & Precast LLC and…
Henry William Gray, 56, suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Monday, May 2 while working at an excavation site in Denver, Iowa. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports: The incident occurred at about 11:30 am. "Crews were doing excavating work when a wall collapsed.” The location is a “historic two-story brick commercial building…which has been under renovation the past couple of years.” KWWL indicates: "Snelling Construction was excavating a long foundation wall.   ….A portion of the foundation wall tipped over…” Using OSHA’s on-line database, it does not appear that the Iowa State OSHA…
Justin ‘J.D.’ Jorgensen’s work-related death could have been prevented. That’s how I see the findings of Iowa OSHA in the agency’s recent citations against his employer, JRS Excavating. The 30 year-old was working with a crew in a residential area in Altoona, IA. They were digging water and sewer lines. Mr. Jorgensen was inside a 10 to 12 feet deep trench when it collapsed on him. I wrote about the incident shortly after it occurred in January 2016. Inspectors with IA-OSHA conducted an inspection at the construction site following the fatal incident. The agency issued citations to JRS…
If only The Pump Handle had a crew of correspondents to report from the many Worker Memorial Day events held this past week. If you attended a Worker Memorial Day event, I’m calling on you to share some highlights from it in the comment section below. I spent time in Houston, TX where Mayor Sylvester Turner and the City Council issued a proclamation to remember workers who were killed, injured, or made ill because of their jobs. Our event featured remarks by Mr. Joseph Reyna, whose son Steven Reyna died in November 2015 while working for Atlantic Coffee Solutions, four workers from La Espiga…
There was an amazing scene this week at the annual meeting of DuPont shareholders. The reporting by Jeff Mordock of the The News-Journal made me feel like I was in the room witnessing it for myself. Mordock writes: “DuPont Co.'s safety record - not its upcoming $130 billion merger with The Dow Chemical Co. - was the focus of shareholder's ire at the company's annual meeting in New York City Wednesday. Not one shareholder asked DuPont CEO Ed Breen a question about the merger…Instead, shareholders grilled Breen about recent deaths at DuPont plants, including that of four workers killed at its…
Tim Cooper’s work-related death could have been prevented. That’s how I see the findings from OSHA in the agency’s citations against his employer Independence Tube. The 49 year-old was working in October 2015 at the company’s plant in Decatur, Alabama. The initial press reports indicated that Cooper was struck by a 6,000 pound steel coil. I wrote about the incident shortly after it occurred. OSHA issued citations against Independence Tube for four serious violations. The company paid a $17,290 penalty. The violations included failure to have an effective lockout/tagout program and appropriate…
Joshua Halphin, 25, suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Thursday, March 24 while working at a construction project in Springfield, MO. The News-Leader reported first: [The victim] “…was off-loading supplies from a lift onto the fifth floor of the complex when he lost his balance and fell.” The incident occurred at about 12:30 pm at the site of a new student apartments on E. St. Louis Street. The project developer is Aspen Heights. Springfield, MO is the home of Missouri State University (MSU). The Aspen Springfield student housing complex will be the largest to-date for MSU students. KY3…
It’s been six years and one day since 29 men were killed by a coal-dust explosion at former Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine (UBB). Today, U.S. District Judge Irene Berger sentenced the company’s former CEO Don Blankenship for his practices that contributed to the disaster. Berger order him to serve one year in jail and pay a $250,000 penalty. Early this morning, the Charleston Gazette’s Ken Ward Jr. reported “…a crowd was already beginning to gather at the Robert C. Byrd U.S. Courthouse in Charleston. More than a dozen family members of the Upper Big Branch miners staked out seats when…
I spend a lot of time each March preparing to commemorate Worker Memorial Day on April 28. I end up reading way too many news stories about workers who were killed on-the-job. I search here and there trying to identify the victims by name and figure out the circumstances that contributed to their deaths. Year in and out, one thing is clear: some companies are just plain reckless and they gamble with the lives of their employees. Reckless business decisions and work-related deaths is the subject of a new manual developed by the Center for Progressive Reform (CPR). "Preventing Death and Injury…
OSHA issued a report last week summarizing the agency’s first year of experience with its new severe injury reporting rule. During 2015, employers from 25 states reported to OSHA more than 7,600 incidents in which workers required overnight (or longer) hospitalizations, and suffered nearly 2,650 work-related amputations. The numbers themselves are striking, but something’s more astonishing: before last year, employers weren’t required to report these serious incidents to OSHA. This change may be the biggest overall advance in occupational health and safety in decades. Without this regulation…
Albert James Speed, 25, suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Friday, March 4 while working at Gestamp in McCalla, Alabama. AL.com reports: “…a large piece of equipment fell on the victim.” AL.com's story was updated: The victim “...was using a [remote-controlled] crane to move parts.” “He became pinned between two large pieces of equipment.” Gestamp is an engineering and manufacturing firm that supplies parts to automakers. It has eight plants in the USA. Just last week it was named General Motors Supplier of the Year. The company’s plant in McCalla has been the subject of four OSHA…
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) continues to make the case that consumers and contractors should stay away from paint strippers that contain methylene chloride. The CDPH’s latest effort is a 7-minute video released last week by the agency's Occupational Health Branch. It features a painter named Jason who nearly died while working with a methylene chloride-based paint stripper. He and two co-workers were removing paint from inside the cabin of a yacht. He explains: “I became dizzy, light headed, the world was spinning. Next thing I know, I looked over… and one guy was…
Ascencion Molina Medina’s work-related death could have been prevented. That’s how I see the findings from South Carolina OSHA in the agency’s citations against his employer, G M Framing. The 44 year-old was working in July 2015 at a construction project for a residential and retail development called Main + Stone in Greenville, SC.  The general contractor of the Main + Stone development is Yeargin Potter Shackelford Construction. The initial press reports indicated that Medina had “lost his footing” and fell about 30 feet.  I wrote about the incident but, at the time, I did not have the name…
Robert Derkacs, Jr., 45 and Joseph Donahue, 25 suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Thursday, February 18 while working at a construction project in Hanover, NJ. Press accounts indicate that the incident occurred at the location of the new Whippany Fire Department on Troy Hills Road. NJ.com reports: "'A 10,000-pound generator [was] being hoisted by a crane…when a strap gave way,' according to Hanover Township Mayor Ronald Francioli." The incident occurred about 11:30 am. The local CBS affiliate reports: “A crane crew had secured the generator and was moving it to its permanent location when…
Terry Leon Lakey’s work-related death could have been prevented. That’s how I see the findings from OSHA in the agency’s citations against his employer, Terex Services Corporation. The 51 year-old was working in September 2015 at the firm’s plant in Waco, TX. The initial press accounts indicated that Mr. Lakey was “crushed by the hydraulic aerial lift that he was servicing.” I wrote about the incident shortly after it occurred. Inspectors with federal OSHA conducted an inspection at the plant following the fatal incident. The agency recently issued citations to Terex Services Corporation for…
A host of failures led to the explosion of fertilizer-grade ammonium nitrate (FGAN) at the West Fertilizer Company on April 17, 2013. This disaster led to the death of 15 people. That’s what I heard during the Chemical Safety Board’s (CSB) public meeting on January 28 at which their investigation report was released. I also heard sadness tinted with frustration from a victim of the disaster. She lost someone who was very close in the blast. She sat quietly behind me at the meeting. Her demeanor was private. I’ll call her Theresa. Like me, Theresa was taking notes on the investigators'…
Kevin Purpura, 39, suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Friday, January 15 while working at major renovation project in Wheeling, WV. His employer was Sandow Development. The (Wheeling) Investigator reports: Mr. Purpura “fell several stories while working inside the former Boury Warehouse." Wheeling police said he was “inspecting metal studding surrounding an elevator shaft” when he fell. The worksite is a “six-story, 120-year-old former warehouse…[which] is being converted into roughly 70 loft-style apartments by the Woda Group of Westerville, Ohio." The “Boury Lofts” project is valued at $…
Justin “J.D.” Jorgensen, 30 suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Wednesday, January 6 while working at an excavation project in Altoona, IA. His employer was JRS Excavating. WHOTV reports: the project was in a residential area where workers were “digging water and sewer lines.” the incident occurred about 8 am local time. an Altoona police spokesperson said that Mr. Jorgensen was working inside a trench that was “10 to 12 feet deep” and the “dirt caved in.” "family friends say he worked with his brother.” Using OSHA’s on-line database, it does not appear that Iowa OSHA has conducted any…
Gerald Lyle Thompson’s work-related death could have been prevented. That’s how I see the findings of Minnesota OSHA (MN-OSHA) in the agency’s citations against his employer, DSM Excavating. The 51 year-old was working in June 2015 at a construction site for Ryland Homes in Lakeville, Minnesota. The initial press reports indicated that Thompson and his brother were installing drain tile inside a 6 to 8 foot deep trench. Thompson was trapped at the bottom of the trench when the soil collapsed onto him. I wrote about the incident shortly after it occurred. Inspectors with MN-OSHA conducted an…
At ProPublica, Michael Grabell expanded his “Insult to Injury” series on the dismantling of the nation’s workers’ compensation system with a disturbing look inside what he dubs the “workers’ comp industrial complex.” He begins his story in Las Vegas at the National Workers’ Compensation and Disability Conference & Expo. And even though Grabell’s previous investigations exposed just how much injured workers must struggle to receive fair compensation and medical care, he details a conference draped in luxury and expense. He writes: A scantily clad acrobat dangles from the ceiling,…