A spate of recent struck-by accidents in Texas, Indiana and Florida have left three workers dead – and OSHA investigators busy.
In Robertson County, Texas, an employee at a used auto parts business died when a vehicle fell on him. OSHA is investigating the incident at Abco Auto Parts, which claimed the life of 43-year-old Carmelo Aguirre-Ortega on August 19th.
The employer of a man killed in a trench collapse last year in Colorado has been charged with manslaughter, according to the Granby Police Department.
The June 14, 2018 incident claimed the life of Rosario Martinez-Lopez, who was working in a trench at a condominium project when the collapse occurred. By the time emergency crews dug him out, he was unresponsive.
A shipbuilding worker with nearly four decades worth of experience fell to his death yesterday while working on the aircraft carrier USS George Washington.
News sources say Tim Ewing, a construction supervisor who’d worked for Newport News Shipbuilding for 39 years, may have fallen while working in a tank.
A fatality earlier this month involving a hydraulic breaker represents a sharp uptick in U.S. mining industry deaths caused by machine accidents, according to the Mine Safety and Health Admininstration (MSHA).
The 32-year-old general manager/owner and the excavator operator were in the process of positioning the excavator for a motor exchange when the hydraulic breaker attachment fell off the excavator and hit the victim.
OSHA has cited Payne Enterprises Inc. – a plumbing contractor based in Dayton, Ohio – for exposing employees to multiple trenching and excavation hazards following an employee fatality. The company faces penalties of $145,860.
OSHA has cited Pukall Lumber Company Inc. – a lumber mill in Arbor Vitae, Wisconsin – for exposing employees to multiple safety hazards following a worker fatality. The company faces penalties of $348,467.
An employee suffered fatal injuries when caught in an outdoor bark conveyor belt in January 2019. OSHA cited Pukall Lumber for two willful violations for failing to implement energy control procedures, and ensure the conveyer had adequate guarding to prevent employees from coming in contact with the moving parts.
A worker dies during a safety drill; safety certification for highway construction workers and California fast tracks a regulation to protect workers from wildfire smoke. These were among the top stories featured on ISHN.com this week.
A worker participating in an “aerial rescue drill” at the North Carolina Zoo died last week in a fall. News reports say 38-year-old Branson Joe Langley was killed when he fell 20-30 feet from a tree. The drill involved two arborists – one playing the role of a person trapped in a tree and the other performing a rescue.
A 24-year-old Wisconsin man died last week at an Amazon construction site in suburban Wisconsin after falling approximately 30 to 40 feet, police said.
Police received a call at 10:09 a.m. for an industrial accident at the future Amazon site. Zachary Dassow of Kansasville, Wisconsin, was operating a four-wheel ATV on an upper floor and drove it out a window, falling more than 30 feet, according to police.
Once again, fall-related violations were behind most of the biggest fines OSHA issued to construction companies in the second quarter of 2019.
One of the contractors, Shawn D. Purvis, has been charged criminally in relation to a death that occurred on one of his company's jobsites.
