Like most of us, Leo Bridges and Edward Bryant left for work one day in September 2014, probably thinking about some rest and relaxation when the shift ended. Like many, they figured their managers and employer would ensure they were safe at work. Bridges and Bryant were wrong; they were caught in a fiery explosion in the Flux Building, which OSHA inspectors said occurred because U.S. Steel Corp. put workers at risk, so as not to slow production at its Fairfield facility.

The recent deaths of employees during construction projects may cost three New York contractors their special rigger licenses – if the city’s Buildings Department’s prevails in its effort to revoke them. The special rigger licenses of Wayne Bellet of Bellet Construction and Mohammad Bhutta of Zain Contracting were suspended following the June death of 44-year-old Carlos Olmedo Lala, who plunged from the second level of scaffolding at a Harlem job site.

An ongoing investigation into an October 4, 2018 train collision that claimed the lives of two railroad employees has resulted in calls for greater scrutiny of train air brakes by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). That key piece of equipment was singled out in a report issued by the agency last week about the Granite Canyon, Wyoming incident.

Two employees of a granite and marble business in suburban Detroit were fatally crushed Monday afternoon when multiple slabs of granite fell on them. Sterling Heights Fire Chief Chris Martin said it appeared that the workers were using an overhead crane to move granite slabs – each weighing more than 1,000 pounds. When slabs were lifted off their storage rack, others shifted, causing slabs to fall on the men.

A 60-year-old employee of Omaha’s largest recycling plant was killed in a workplace accident last week. Authorities have identified the victim as Dilaver Gasa, an employee of First Star Recycling. News sources say the incident occurred on Thursday morning, when Gasa was pinned under the bucket of a front end loader.

Authorities are trying to determine the cause of an accident earlier this week in Riverbank, California that claimed that claimed the life of a sanitation worker. News sources say 30-year-old Ismael Martinez-Huertas, a father of two, was crushed by a hydraulic mechanism on a garbage truck Monday afternoon.

A construction worker who watched two co-workers fall to their deaths at a hotel construction site in Florida last year is suing Marriott and its partner companies for failing to provide sufficient safeguards for workers. News sources say the August 29 incident occurred during construction of a 16-story hotel.

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.