Monday, June 30, 2008

Workplace Relief

Well I know there are tons of these types of video's but if your an animal lover it's too cute and it is a reminder that a sense of humor is natural and there is a time to work and a time to play.

Weekly Toll: Death in the American Workplace

Pipe falls on worker at FPL plant site, killing him

FL - A 61-year-old construction worker building a Florida Power and Light Co. plant in western Palm Beach County was killed Friday, after a pipe fell on him. The 24-inch-wide pipe fell on the man while he was working on a scaffolding about 20 feet high, said county Fire-Rescue Capt. Don DeLucia. FPL employees used a crane to lower the worker to the ground, on a stretcher. But the man, whose name has not been released, was dead by the time rescuers arrived, DeLucia said.


Safety Questioned After Female Guard Killed At State Prison

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- There are serious questions about safety inside the Tomoka Correctional Institution in Daytona Beach after a 50-year-old female guard was stabbed to death by a convicted rapist at the prison. Her fellow jail guards told Eyewitness News they were saddened by her death, but not surprised. In fact, some said they predicted such an incident. More than 1,200 criminals are kept behind bars at Tomoka Correctional Institution. Former officers though told Eyewitness News they're understaffed and it leads to situations like the death of Donna Fitzgerald.


Crews Recover Body From Collapsed Trench

VAN BUREN, Ark. - Recovery teams have removed the body of a worker trapped in Friday's trench collapse in Van Buren. Richard Hardgraves, 48, died when the trench walls gave way, trapping him in mud and water. Work crews spent more than 11 hours trying to remove his body. Another man, Tony Webb, was also trapped while trying to rescue Hardgraves. Webb was able to get out. Officials from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating whether Kirby Construction crews followed proper safety measures and whether the accident could have been prevented.


Officials probe Yellville man's death at factory

HARRISON, Ark. - Federal inspectors are investigating a Harrison factory where a worker was apparently electrocuted earlier this week. Authorities say Tim Souther, 46, of Yellville was killed Tuesday morning while working on some electrical equipment at Tankinetics. Bill Nichols, director of operations at Tankinetics, says Souther was on a "man lift" elevated above the floor at the time of his death. Nichols says inspectors from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating Souther's death. His body has been sent to the state Crime Laboratory in Little Rock for an autopsy. Tankinetics makes composite materials used in corrosion-proof storage tanks and piping.


Disney Employee Dies After Being Injured At Resort

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. - A Disney employee has died two weeks after being injured at a Disney Resort. 52 year old John Swearingen was injured while working at Disney’s All Star Music Resort on June 13th. Osceola County deputies were called to the resort after the employee was hurt while operating a hi-lift machine. According to the police report, the man somehow became pinned between the machine and a wall. He sustained serious chest, neck and head injuries, Swearingen was airlifted to Orlando Regional Medical Center where he died Thursday, Osceola County detectives have been working with OSHA and now are conducting a death investigation. Officials said the death appears to be accidental.


Electrician dies after accident on job

FAIRFIELD — A Robinson Heating and Air Conditioning electrician died after a fatal accident on a contracted job at a Fairfield business, said the company's safety manager. William Hopkins, 77, of Middletown, died in the afternoon Thursday, June 26, but how he died is still being investigated, said safety manager Les Robinson. He said he did not know the details of how Hopkins died. "Right now, our thoughts and prayers are with the family, and our condolences," Robinson said. "He was a long-time employee, very valuable." Hopkins, a retired AK Steel employee, had worked for Middletown-based Robinson Heating for 18 years, Robinson said. Marcum said there was a fall involved in the accident, but would not confirm if Hopkins died as a result of the fall.


Victim in fatal Dolton standoff was beaten, stabbed, shot

IL - Police release new details of Dolton standoff that left woman, gunman dead. An employee killed in a standoff in a Dolton insurance office Tuesday was beaten, stabbed and shot before police killed the offender, authorities said Wednesday. Family and friends gathered outside the South Holland home of Jeniel Morgan on Wednesday to mourn the loss of the 42-year-old woman. Police said Morgan, an employee at Illinois Vehicle Insurance, was dead when officers entered the building after the standoff.


Hampton officials identify man killed in industrial accident

HAMPTON, CA - Hampton Fire-Rescue officials have identified a 45-year-old North Carolina man who died earlier this month while working at Peninsula Town Center. Rene Sierra Aguirrez, of Cary, N.C., was laying floor decking at a construction site when he fell 19 feet through an opening on June 14, according to Hampton fire marshal Anne-Marie Loughran. He died the next day at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, according to Loughran. Aguirrez had two sons, according to Loughran.


Elderly farmer killed by tractor saw

BELLAIRE, Mich. - An 84-year-old farmer in Antrim County has been killed after falling into a saw blade that was attached to the front of his tractor. The county sheriff's department tells the Traverse City Record-Eagle that the man had attached a buzz saw rig to the tractor and was cutting small branches. He was not on the tractor, but was working on the ground nearby. He somehow fell into the blade Tuesday and sustained a head injury. He had died by the time emergency rescuers arrived.


Worker, 42, killed in fall at warehouse

Baltimore, MD - A 42-year-old man died after falling from scaffolding at a Harford County warehouse yesterday. Authorities did not release the identity of the man, pending notification of next of kin. The man was working for a masonry company, building a cinder-block wall in an old appliance warehouse on Appliance Drive in Belcamp, said Sgt. Dave Betz, spokesman for Harford County Sheriff's Office. Betz said that about 1:45 p.m., while the man was on top of the scaffolding and moving to a different part of the wall, he fell 16 to 18 feet.


Postal Service worker killed in Silver Lake collision

A U.S. Postal Service worker was killed today when her mail truck overturned in Silver Lake, a Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman said. Maria F. Gutierrez, 30, was in the 2000 block of N. Hyperion Avenue at about 11:30 a.m. when her postal truck collided with another vehicle, said Fire Department spokeswoman d'Lisa Davies. Larry Dozier, a USPS spokesman,said Gutierrez had worked for the postal service about two years. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the second vehicle was taken to a hospital.


Idaho construction worker killed in fall

MERIDIAN, Idaho - Officials with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating the death of a 23-year-old construction worker from Caldwell. OSHA area director Jerrold Hockett says Keith Thomas Hunter died after falling from a building in Meridian. The Idaho Statesman reports that Hunter worked for the Boise-based B&B Steel Erectors. According to OSHA records, the company paid a $5,000 fine in 200 after OSHA inspectors found a serious violation and a repeat violation. The company was also cited for a serious violation in 2007.


Construction Worker Falls To Death At Jet Blue Terminal

NY - A construction worker died this morning after falling from a ladder at John F. Kennedy airport. A Port Authority spokesman says the accident happened at around 8 a.m. inside the new Jet Blue terminal, which is currently under construction. Authorities say the worker suffered head trauma and then went into cardiac arrest after falling six feet. The worker later died at the hospital. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Port Authority's investigation team are looking into what caused the worker to fall.


Man in Kentucky Kills 5 Co-Workers

HENDERSON, Ky. — A man who worked at a Henderson plastics company called his girlfriend from the plant about two hours before he fatally shot five people and then killed himself and told her that he was going to kill his supervisor, police officials said at a news conference on Wednesday. The man, Wesley Neal Higdon, had been reprimanded for talking on his cell phone while working at the Atlantis Plastics plant and failing to wear safety glasses. Earlier that evening, he had fought with a co-worker, Joshua Hinojosa. His supervisor, Kevin Taylor, ordered him to leave the building about midnight Wednesday. In all, six people died —Mr. Taylor of Dixon, Ky, 30; Hr. Hinojosa, 28, of Sebree; Trisha Mirelez, 25, of Sebree; Rachael Vasquez, 26 of Sebree, and Israel Monroy, 29, of Henderson. Mr. Higdon, 25, was also from Henderson.


Tow driver killed on I-80 roadside

Peoria, IL - The owner of a towing company who died on the side of Interstate 80 on Monday morning was remembered Tuesday as a "great boss" and "kind man." William B. Waite, Jr., of Ladd was working on a broken down tractor-trailer on the right-hand shoulder of the eastbound lane near the Utica exit when a semi driven by Mark D. Boehm, 43, of Spring Valley slammed into the back of the truck Waite was servicing. Illinois State Police are investigating the fatal accident. Waite was pronounced dead at the scene at 10:07 a.m. by LaSalle County Coroner Jody Bernard. Boehm was not injured. Waite, the owner of Waite’s Service and Towing of Cherry, was accompanied by employee Christian Henninger, 30, of LaSalle. Henninger was severely injured in the accident.


West End flagger killed in highway construction accident near Brinnon

BRINNON, WA — A construction flagger was killed Monday when she was struck by a construction dump truck on U.S. Highway 101. The flagger was identified at the scene as Lynette M. Anderson, 49, of Beaver. According to Washington State Patrol Sgt. Kent Hitchings, Anderson, an employee of Lakeside Industries, was struck by a dump truck belonging to Wood Hawk Inc. of Port Angeles. The truck was carrying asphalt for the 15-mile paving project in which both were working. The accident took place around 11:30 a.m. between Mileposts 310 and 311, on U.S. 101 near Canal View Street south of Brinnon. Hitchings said Anderson was tasked with directing the trucks around the work site and was not directing through traffic.


Construction Worker Killed By Truck

WEST HARTFORD, IL - A construction worker was killed instantly when he was struck by a dump truck Monday morning on South Street, just off New Britain Avenue. The worker, a Naugatuck man in his 50s, got caught between the truck and a roadway milling machine he was working with about 7:10 a.m., said Capt. Bill Erickson of the West Hartford police department traffic division. The truck is registered to Bob Pabst Land Clearing & Trucking Inc., a Woodbury-based hauler. Calls to Pabst were not immediately returned. Police could not confirm the name of the construction company the worker was employed by.


1 of 6 people hurt in Santa Paula area farm blast dies

Camarillo, CA - One of the six people injured in a weekend explosion at a farm near Santa Paula died Monday and the five others remained at burn centers, authorities said. The explosion occurred about 3:40 p.m. Sunday at San Cristobal Distributing, an agricultural harvesting company located at 20991 South Mountain Road. Margarito Gonzales, 22, was using a torch to cut the lid off a 55-gallon drum when a petroleum product inside the container ignited, causing it to explode, sheriff's Capt. Ross Bonfiglio said. Gonzales died about 7:30 a.m. Monday at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, said Adelaida De La Cerda, a hospital spokeswoman. Sergio Penton, 22, remained in critical condition at the hospital with burns over 35 percent of his body, De La Cerda said.


Newlywed Killed Outside North Phila. Car Wash

PHILADELPHIA, PA ― Police are searching for two suspects involved in the fatal shooting of a newlywed outside of a North Philadelphia car wash Monday evening. The shooting happened outside a car wash located at the intersection of North Broad Street and West Lehigh Avenue. Police said two suspects shot a 37-year-old male numerous times before fleeing the scene with an unknown amount of cash. The victim was rushed to Temple University Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. Investigators said the victim, an immigrant who was married just one month ago, collected money at the car wash. No arrests have been made. If you have any information on this incident, contact Philadelphia Police.


Worker killed in fall from ladder

HAVERHILL, NH — A Pelham, N.H., man fell to his death in an industrial accident yesterday at Haverhill Paperboard Corp. in Bradford. No foul play is suspected in the death of Lloyd Benjamin, 49, who fell about 25 feet from a ladder and struck his head, said Steve O'Connell, spokesman for District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett. Benjamin was taken by ambulance to Merrimack Valley Hospital in Haverhill, where he was pronounced dead shortly after the 9 a.m. accident, police said. He and Brenda Benjamin lived in a duplex at 96B Dutton Road in Pelham, according to town assessing records available online. The phone line at Benjamin's home was disconnected, and attempts to reach relatives were unsuccessful last night.


Two Dead In South Jersey Plane Crash

Philadelphia,PA - For the second time in less than two days, there's been a deadly small plane crash in southern New Jersey. State police say two men were killed Sunday morning when a jet-engine aircraft went down in a densely wooded area of Cumberland County. Police say the pilot was 65-year-old William Crean, a war veteran, of Sewell, New Jersey. He also owned a pool business. Sources say his passenger was 57-year-old Fredrick Gault of Gloucester County. Friends of William Crean told Fox 29 News he was a hard-working man, who died doing what he loved. "Billy was a good friend. He would always help you, he was kind and he loved flying," said Anthony Marsella.


Docks accident kills employee

Mobile, AL - Authorities continued Sunday to investigate an accident on a coal ship at the Alabama State Docks that killed one man and injured another early Saturday. Tim Huff, a millwright with the State Docks, fell to his death inside the hold of a massive coal-bearing bulk carrier at about 3 a.m. Saturday, docks and union officials said Sunday. Another man, a crewman on the MV CELERINA, fell while attempting to rescue Huff, officials said.


Pueblo officer collapses, dies on duty

PUEBLO, Colo. - Pueblo police are mourning the death of an officer who collapsed and died while running toward a disturbance downtown. Thirty-year-old Nicholas Heine (HI'-nee) died Saturday morning. Police Chief James Billings says Heine and other officers were responding to several disturbances when Heine collapsed. Officers performed CPR on Heine, but he died later at a hospital. Billings says the department wasn't aware of anything that might have indicated Heine was at risk of a heart attack. The official cause of death wasn't immediately known. Heine served with the department for seven years. Survivors include his wife, two daughters and his mother, who also is a Pueblo police officer.



Chemical reaction kills worker at plant


Middletown, OH - Nothing was unusual Saturday morning, June 21, in the Mayfield neighborhood that surrounds United Waste Water Services Inc. Several neighbors said the smell was typical. So strong — one woman said it was like "a dead animal" — that they went inside and closed their windows. A few hours later, something went terribly wrong inside the plant at 2640 Lefferson Road when an employee was killed by a chemical reaction, according to the Middletown Police Department. Tom Rogers of Cincinnati died after a chemical reaction caused a release of toxic gas hydrogen sulfide around 10:30 a.m. at the plant, said Capt. Greg Justice of the Middletown Fire Department. Dave Brown, president of the company, said he had no idea how the accident happened and he didn't want to speculate.


Federal prison guard stabbed to death

CA - The 22-year-old guard, who had been on the job for less than a year, was killed by two inmates using homemade weapons at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atwater, near Merced, prison officials say. Two inmates fatally stabbed a prison guard Friday afternoon in an incident under investigation by federal authorities, officials at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atwater, Calif., said Saturday. Jose Rivera, 22, of Chowchilla was attacked by inmates armed with homemade weapons about 3:30 p.m., according to a statement by Warden Dennis Smith. The assault took place in an inmate housing unit and the alleged assailants were immediately restrained, he said. Rivera was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4:15 p.m.


Customers Remember Slain Store Clerk as Kind

Lakeland, FL - A suspect in the shooting death of Jashavantal Patel, 54, remains at large. A table full of artificial flowers and stuffed animals is set up outside the door to the Rightway Food Store/Citgo station where Jashavantal Patel was killed last week. Also on the table is a letter to the family of the slain man. "Our prayers and thoughts are with you. Your father was a wonderful man. We will miss his kindness and smiles," the unsigned letter says. Patel, 54, of Winter Haven, was shot and killed by an unknown gunman Friday morning. Robbery is thought to be the motive.


Christian music studio owner and employee murdered; Texarkana teens arrested

Shreveport, LA - Two young men from Texarkana have been arrested in connection with a double murder in the Dallas area in which the owner and an employee of a Christian music recording studio were shot during an apparent robbery. The suspects were in one of the victim's car. Texarkana police had stopped the vehicle Thursday evening after it was seen near a disturbance in Texarkana in which a police officer had been assaulted. Matthew Butler, 28, the owner of Zion Gate Records, and Stephen Swan, 26, the sound engineer, were killed late Wednesday or early Thursday as they left the Garland studio after working on a project. Nothing in the studio appeared missing but Swan's car was gone, police said. A passerby noticed the bodies early Thursday


City mourns YPD officer, Detective Sgt. Robert Deichman was driving his unmarked car on Salt Springs Road when it collided with a tractor-trailer.

YOUNGSTOWN, OH — Great police officer, family man, dedicated, decent, fun, energetic, good person. These words are used by colleagues as they remember Detective Sgt. Robert Deichman, a nine-year Youngstown police veteran who died in a traffic accident early Thursday. “He was a good human being, a family man,” said Detective Donald Scott, who had known Deichman for 10 years and worked closely with him. “He will be sadly missed.” The Youngstown Police Department and the Canfield Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol released information about Deichman, who was killed at about 3:20 a.m. in the 2750 block of Salt Springs Road, a light industrial area. Deichman, 40, was on call and driving an unmarked police car when he collided with a tractor-trailer.


1 Man Killed, 7 Injured After Wall Collapses at Rice University

Tampa,FL - A wall collapse at a construction site on the Rice University campus has left one worker dead and seven others injured. The collapse happened at around 4 p.m. Five workers were trapped when some of the walls that were being built for dormitories collapsed on the building’s second floor. One man died while four others were transported to local hospitals. The extent of the injuries sustained by the workers is unknown. Currently the cause of the collapse is being investigated. The building has been under construction since last year and is set to open in the fall of 2009. A separate investigation by the contractor and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration will attempt to determine the cause of the collapse.


Ansonia man dies under falling elevator

Los Angeles, CA - A 64-year-old maintenance worker at Derby Cellular Products on Roosevelt Drive was killed Tuesday morning when a freight elevator fell on him, authorities said. Robert Beckwith of Ansonia, a 30-year employee of the company, suffered a severe head injury and was pronounced dead at the scene. Derby police spokesman Lt. Sal Frosceno said it was not immediately known what Beckwith was doing when the elevator fell on him. Frosceno described the elevator as "not a big unit" and "not something you stand in." He did not know its weight or dimensions.


Industrial accident kills shipyard worker, Victim identified as 24-year-old Dimitri Hicks

Mobile,AL - A worker was killed early Wednesday in an apparent accident at Bender Shipbuilding & Repair Co. near downtown Mobile, authorities said. Nancy Johnson, a Mobile police spokeswoman, identified the victim as 24-year-old Dimitri Hicks. She said the incident occurred about 7 a.m. Billy Wiik, Bender's human resources manager, said Hicks was a shipfitter. "The guy was a real good worker," Wiik said. "He had worked here for more than two years. It was just a freak accident, but a tragedy." According to Johnson, Hicks was operating an overhead crane and somehow became pinned between a large sheet of steel and a wall. Wiik said the crane is on an overhead rail and is used to move large pieces of metal.


Falling tree kills County worker

Wilmington, DE - County Paramedics have identified a tree surgeon killed when a tree he was working on fell on him Wednesday afternoon. James Corcoran of New Castle was working on the tree in Bringhurst Woods off Shipley Road in North Wilmington. Corcoran, who'd been working for the County for about 5 years, was pronounced dead at the scene. County Executive Chris Coons says it's a tragic loss because Jimmy was a terrific employee and a wonderful person. It should be noted Corcoran was named Employee of the Year shortly before his tragic death.


N.C. State Trooper shot and killed during traffic stop

RALEIGH, NC — Trooper David Blanton Jr. was shot and killed during a traffic stop late Tuesday evening in Haywood County. Edwardo Wong II, age 37, of Ormond Beach, Fll. has been charged with the crime and is being held without bail in the Haywood County jail. “The patrol family has lost a member and the state of North Carolina has lost a dedicated public servant,” said Colonel W. Fletcher Clay, Commander of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol. Trooper Blanton was patrolling a stretch of I-40 Tuesday night when he pulled over a vehicle that was towing a passenger car, which was operated by Wong. During the stop, an altercation occurred between Trooper Blanton and Wong and Blanton was fatally shot. The suspect then reportedly took Blanton’s weapon and fled. A passing motorist called for assistance.


1 Dead In Cape Plane Crash

Boston, MA - Cause Of Crash Under Investigation. A pilot was killed Wednesday when his plane crashed just after takeoff at a Cape Cod airport. The Wiggins Airways freight plane crashed at about 10:15 a.m. Wednesday at the Barnstable Municipal Airport in Hyannis, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The pilot, Mark Conway, 44, of Martson Mills, Mass., was the only person on board the DeHavilland C6 turboprop when it crashed. "It was a turboprop plane that crashed at a about 10:15 in the morning. We do have one confirmed fatality," airport manager Quincy Mosby said.


Worker dies after falling from gas-drilling rig

FORT WORTH, Texas - A worker died over the weekend after falling from a gas rig south of Fort Worth. Jason Trichel fell Saturday evening near Crowley. He was airlifted to a Fort Worth hospital, where he died about an hour later. The Tarrant County medical examiner's office says the 27-year-old worker died of head injuries. A Tarrant County sheriff's spokesman says the cause of the fall isn't clear yet, but it appears to be an accident.


Man fatally crushed by Davis County mobile home

Salt Lake, FL - A 43-year-old construction worker was killed after being pinned underneath a mobile home in Davis County. The man and two other workers were attempting to lower a mobile home near 520 South 1300 West in Woods Cross when the structure shifted, crushing the man. He was pronounced dead at the scene Tuesday afternoon, said Sgt. Ekolu Delos Santos with the Woods Cross Police Department. Though the man is a resident of Salt Lake County, he is a native of Duchesne County, Delos Santos said. His name was not immediately released pending family notification.


Former Ellwood City, Beaver Falls sports coach Leif Ellis killed

Beaver,PA - When Leif James Ellis coached Ellwood City’s wrestling team nearly 10 years ago, he enjoyed working with the kids, said one rival coach. After a short-lived coaching career mentoring local teens — who were only a few years his junior — Ellis fathered a child of his own two weeks ago. That child will never know his father. Ellis, 30, was killed Friday in a workplace accident in Morgantown, W.Va., where he was working with Lone Pine Construction Co. Ellis, of Fallowfield Township, Washington County, was electrocuted, according to a report in the Morgantown Dominon-Post.


Worker killed at Granite City demolition site

GRANITE CITY, IL - A 58-year-old St. Louis man died Wednesday after falling from a boom lift at a demolition site in the area formerly known as the Commonwealth Steel factory. Howard Brown died from injuries he suffered as he was attempting to dismantle a building on the property at 1100 Niedringhaus Ave., authorities said. The Madison County Coroner's Office reported that Brown died as a result of blunt force trauma to the chest and head when he fell as he was using a blowtorch to remove a steel beam on the building and it broke free, causing the roof to partially collapse, knocking him off the lift.


Paramedic And Patient Killed In Tuesday Morning Crash

Salisbury,MD - Two people are dead and two others injured after an early morning ambulance crash in Delaware. One of those killed was a paramedic. It was a tragic ambulance crash in Angola, Delaware. A paramedic and a patient die while heading to Beebe Medical Center. The ambulance slammed into a tree around 2:40AM Tuesday while trying to avoid a deer in the road. One witness, who didn't want to be named, called 911 once she heard the crash She tells WMDT, "I could hear one of the EMT's calling out for his friend . . . And then we heard her cries." But the calls for help couldn't save the two. 31-year-old EMT Stephanie Calloway, 31 and patient Betty Hall, 82 both died. A single teddy bear has been left in the spot where those lives were lost along Route 24. Glenn Luedtke, Director Of Sussex County EMS, says, "We are a family, we will get through this as a family." The woman who witnessed the accident says, "I don't know how they do it everyday. And then for them to have it happen to one of their own, my heart goes out to them."


A painter died after falling head-first from a three-story roof in Aurora today.

The 44-year-old man was reportedly leaning over the edge of a roof, caulking beneath the gutter when he plunged down onto concrete below, said Aurora fire Capt. Mark Turley. Fire paramedics were dispatched to the apartment in the 2600 block of South Cathay Way about 10 a.m. and attempted CPR on the man, who suffered suffered massive head injuries, Turley said. The victim, identified as Rodney Curtis Jones, was transported to Aurora South Hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to the Arapahoe County Coroner.


Rules Review for Bryan Trucks to Come After Death Investigation

College Station,TX - The City of Bryan has resumed repairs involving bucket trucks in emergency cases, but routine repairs are still on hold, this as an investigation continues into the death of Alex Constancio, the city worker who fell from a bucket truck while working on a traffic signal. City Manager David Watkins says the first thing the city is trying to do is figure out all the facts in the accident. A final report could take weeks, and until all the facts are gathered, they won't review safety practices. Watkins says he's not aware of any contact between the city and the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, as cities are not subject to OSHA regs.


Business owner killed

Alex Huh, 40, an Asian man, was shot to death inside his business in the 300 block of North Oxford Street in Hollywood on Sunday, June 15. Huh was pronounced dead at the scene. Los Angeles Police Department officials said Howard Huh, 67, an Asian man (no relation), walked into LAPD's Hollywood Station and told officers that he had shot Alex Huh, his former employer. Officers found Alex Huh inside the Beverly Hot Springs Spa, which he owned. Police said the shooting occurred during an argument between the two men. Howard Huh was arrested on suspicion of murder


Explosions kill welders at two biodiesel facilities

Grand Forks,ND - An explosion at Greenlight Biofuels LLC in Princess Anne, Md., on May 18 killed a contractor who was welding pipes in the idled 4 MMgy multi-feedstock plant. The exact cause of the explosion is being investigated, but company President Allen Cunningham said the facility’s safety features worked as designed. Another welder died April 15 in an explosion at Western Biodiesel Inc. in High River, Alberta, while conducting repairs. The plant suffered structural damage but was expected to be back in operation by late June, according to Chief Exeuctive Officer Dean Cockshutt. The process equipment at the 5 MMgy multi-feedstock plant was mostly unaffected.


Worker Killed at Echelon Construction Site

Las Vegas, NV - A worker was killed Monday morning while removing scaffolding at the Echelon construction project on the Las Vegas Strip. The 50-year-old carpenter reportedly suffered severe head trauma when he was pulled down by the scaffolding while trying to move it. The victim fell about 12-15 feet and died at the scene. He was wearing a safety harness. This is the first death at Boyd Gaming's Echelon, which is being built at the old site of the Stardust. Construction on the $4.8 billion project began last year and is expected to be completed in 2010. In a statement, Boyd Gaming said work at the site has been halted for the rest of the day in order to honor the worker.


A 24 yr. old construction boilermaker was killed in a 80 foot fall at a Big Stone , SD power plant on Memorial Day, 2008.

Bismarck, ND - The employer was ICI out of Bismarck, ND, and the boilermaker's name was Roberto Pearson, a great young local 647 (Ramsey, MN) apprentice who as I understand it loved his trade, and his brother & sister boilermakers. He will be missed.


Worker Killed in Newark Construction Accident

NEWARK, NJ - Police say a construction worker in Newark has died after a concrete wall toppled onto him. The victim was working at SBS Steel on Herbert Street at 10 a.m. when the wall fell on him. The prefabricated wall was being moved by a crane Monday morning when the incident happened. The worker was taken to UniversityHospital in critical condition, where he died.


Worker killed at Derby business

Bridgeport, CT — A maintenance worker was killed in an accident at Derby Cellular Products this morning. The 61-year-old man was fatally injured in an incident involving an elevator at the Roosevelt Drive business, according to Lt. Sal Frosceno, the police spokesman. "We are investigating an industrial accident there," he said. Investigators were still at the scene around noon and no more details about the accident were immediately available. Derby Cellular Products manufactures molded, extruded and fabricated rubber products.


2nd victim hit at racetrack dies

A 52-year-old Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center employee critically injured when hit by a truck while walking to his car June 1 after a car race in Kansas died Saturday. James C. “J.J.” Jenkins suffered a major brain stem stroke Saturday, said his wife, Joy McGrew Jenkins. She is a registered nurse case manager at Muskogee Regional Medical Center. She said she knew an hour before the stroke that he was brain dead and nothing more could be done.


Park and Rec employee dies

Charlotte, NC = A Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation employee died Saturday from injuries suffered in an accident on the job one day earlier, county officials announced Monday. Warren Thomas Tinner Jr., 54, had worked for the department for 10 years, and was a maintenance and operations assistant. A county news release stated that co-workers believe he fell from a ladder and hit his head in a storeroom at a warehouse on Allegheny Street. He was taken to Carolinas Medical Center where he underwent surgery. He died Saturday morning. County officials said they reported the incident to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which is expected to conduct an investigation. APRIL BETHEA


Miner killed in Northumberland County

Harrisburg,PA - A 40-year-old miner was killed this morning at the Harmony Mine in Mount Carmel Twp., Northumberland County, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection. The miner, whose name has not yet been released, died after the mine roof collapsed about 10:15 a.m., DEP spokesman Tom Rathbun said. Other miners were able to get him to the surface and he was airlifted to a hospital where he died later. No one else was injured, Rathbun said.


Hanford worker dies before ruling

RICHLAND, BENTON COUNTY – A worker who was splashed with hazardous and radioactive waste at the Hanford nuclear reservation in 2002 died last week of cancer, one day before a federal appeals court ruled in his lawsuit against a contractor at the site.
Daniel Golden, 56, of Sunnyside, Yakima County, died Tuesday. He’d been diagnosed with cancer a little more than a year ago, said his son Dave Golden. Before his cancer diagnosis, Daniel Golden filed suit against U.S. Department of Energy contractor CH2M Hill Hanford Group, claiming the accident caused him physical injuries ranging from colitis to sinusitis, as well as emotional distress. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday remanded part of the case to U.S. District Court in Eastern Washington.


Painter dies after falling off apartment building

AURORA, CO - The fire department says a painter doing some caulking died after tumbling off a roof Monday.Firefighters say the 44-year-old man fell off the roof of a three-story building at Balterra at Sterling Hills, located at 2622 South Cathay Way, around 10 a.m. According to the Aurora Fire Department, say the man was apparently reaching over the gutter to do some caulking when he fell off the roof. The man was taken to Aurora South Hospital where police say he was pronounced dead. The Occupational Safety & Health Administration has been called in to investigate. The victim's name was not immediately released.


Bronx cab driver stabbed and killed in Yonkers

YONKERS - A cab driver was stabbed in the neck and killed on Riverdale Avenue yesterday morning. He is the second cab driver to be killed in the city this month. Police said John Alli, a 46-year-old from the Bronx, was found stabbed around 4:45 a.m. inside his Bronx-licensed cab outside 93 Riverdale Ave. He was taken to St. Joseph's Medical Center where he died. Police are investigating whether robbery was the motive. Alli might have been driving a passenger from New York City to a Riverdale Avenue address when he was attacked, police said. Sam Abdul, a member of the Yonkers Islamic Center at 100 Riverdale Ave., said that when he left an early morning prayer session just before 5 a.m., he saw the street filled with police cars.





Man dies after fall from drilling platform in Crowley

A 27-year-old man died Saturday after he fell off a drilling platform in Crowley. Jason Trichel of Bangs was working about 6:19 p.m. when he fell off the platform’s edge at a drilling site in the 3300 block of St. Francis, said Terry Grisham, a Tarrant County Sheriff’s Department spokesman. Mr. Trichel was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, where he died from his injuries. It is unclear how he fell off the platform. The Tarrant County medical examiner’s office ruled the death as an accident. Officials with the Occupational Health and Safety Administration are expected to investigate.


Worker killed in Cowboys stadium accident

ARLINGTON, Texas, June 15 - A 45-year-old electrician was electrocuted at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium under construction in Arlington, Texas, authorities say. Arlington Fire Department Battalion Chief Neal Strasser said Timothy Mackinnon was working on the football stadium's electrical system Saturday when he touched a high-voltage line and died despite efforts to revive him, the Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram reported Sunday. JMEG Electrical, the subcontractor that hired Mackinnon, offered its condolences to his family and said an investigation would be conducted. "Our focus right now is with the family and friends of this individual, as well as on the investigation of the incident," the company said in a statement.


Tractor Tips Over In Jefferson, Killing Two, Man, Woman Pronounced Dead At Scene

JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP, Pa. - A farm tractor overturned, killing two people in Jefferson Township, Greene County on Saturday. Stephen Yourchik, 20, of Clarksville, and Leah Zwerver, 23, of Waynesburg, were riding a farm tractor up a steep hill on Pitt Gas Road when the machine tipped and rolled over on them. Authorities pronounced the two dead at the scene at about 5:30 p.m. Saturday. Police said the two were riding the tractor to retrieve a truck in which they were off-roading that got stuck in some mud.


86-Year-Old Man Killed in Farming Accident, He was pinned under his tractor for 23 hours

Salina,KS - An 86-year-old Kansas farmer has died, four days after he was pinned under his tractor for 23 hours.Authorities in Mulvane say Paul Elder's leg was crushed and he suffered severe burns. His calls for help were silenced by the tractor's idling motor. He was airlifted to the Via Christi Saint Francis burn unit in critical condition. He died Tuesday.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

OMG

OMG I love George Miller! Finally It was brought to the publics attention that families and unions have no rights in OSHA proceedings. OSHA, The Company in question and their lawyers are able to whittle down the fins and citations to nothing and not one person representing the worker is involved.

Thank You! You can't even imagine what this means to the families. It may not have changed however now people get it and it's on the record!

This was an awesome hearing and you really need to watch this if you want to see the real deal.

"Is OSHA Failing to Adequately Enforce Construction Safety Rules?" »
Full Committee
Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Bethlehem Steel Action Group

June 25th, the Bethlehem Steel Action Group will hold a rally in Cleveland, Ohio at the US Department of Labor’s Regional Office to call attention to the unjust way in which that agency and NIOSH are treating claimants seeking compensation for cancers they developed from radiation exposures at the plant. Approximately 38 former steel workers and family members and supporters will board a bus.

When: Wednesday, June 25th . Leaving at 7:00 AM by bus. Arrive in Cleveland around 11:00 AM. Rally at the US Dept. of Labor Regional Office from 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM. Return to Hamburg at 6:30 - 7:00 PM.

Where: Depart from Razzi Ground Effects parking lot, 5650 Maelou Drive, Hamburg, N.Y. (in Hamburg, past Rtes. 20/75 intersection, off Rte. 75--left on Legion to Maelou, turn left). Will arrive at the US Dept. of Labor Regional Office in Cleveland at 1001 Lakeside Ave for a 2 hour rally.

What: A few years ago former Bethlehem Steelworkers boarded a bus to the US Dept. of Labor’s Regional Office in Cleveland, Ohio. They rallied to call attention to the fact that workers at the plant during the Cold War were not being fairly compensated as promised under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program.

Now, Joyce Walker and members of BSAG and their supporters will join again hold a rally in Cleveland to call attention to the fact that they still are not being fairly compensated. In the words of Joyce Walker:

“Ed has carried on this fight for justice over 6 years finding many flaws and discrepancies in the program. With his extensive research he has proven to our elected delegates that benefits should be paid. Our delegates have openly expressed support for us and have requested that we receive the Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) designation and that they would like to have this issue resolved immediately.

Since his death, I (Joyce Walker) have taken over his fight to continue where he left off. ‘We will not quit, we will not go away, and we will not rest until we get justice for all of the workers and families who have suffered.”

Representatives from BSAG, the Buffalo AFL-CIO, the United Church of Christ national office, and others will deliver letters to DOL officials in Cleveland.

Contact: Joyce Walker: 627-5214

George & Monique Cole

I never print a whole article because the work should be respected and credit given to the work involved. However I couldn't chop this one to pieces because you really need to read it in full. This is what it is about Alexandra Berzon hit the nail on the head.

Still deep in the grieving process your own life hangs on a thread, can you really pull it off, get the point across keep the good memories alive, bring some form of justice to your loved one and save others who will follow? Many may be willing to do so but are they able? Can they stay composed and stand up against all those who have been in the field and oppose what you are doing?

The answer of course is yes! I say, "You can do it, Duffy Moon." Sorry kind of an inside joke!

There is nothing wrong with fear, the real fear is when no one stands up. Fear of the unknown is normal but it will always be unknown until you get to know it. Heck I have had a few chances to get up and speak out and still, probably always will, get butterflies and I am sure it will never be my favorite live event but as my son always says, "A Man's (Women's) gotta do what a Man's (Woman's) gotta do."

Just keep in mind you and your loss is just important as theirs. If that's not it for you then the prospect that you may save someone else or at least gain awareness to the issue at hand. If just one workers hears and heeds it is a life spared and if they pass it along well who knows.

I am proud of the courage and determination George & Monique Cole have. What a great team! Keep up the good work!

CONSTRUCTION WORKER DEATHS ON THE STRIP:

Five minutes to save lives
Relative of fall victim has so much to say to House panel, so little time

Matt Toplikar
George Cole and his wife, Monique, in front of the U.S. Capitol on Monday, are in Washington for a House committee hearing. George Cole, brother-in-law of ironworker Harold Billingsley, who was killed on the CityCenter project in October, will testify today on whether OSHA is failing to adequately enforce construction safety rules.

By Alexandra Berzon
Tue, Jun 24, 2008 (2 a.m.)
Washington — As a retired ironworker and a former contractor, George Cole is usually up at 4 a.m.

And so it was that he found himself several hours before dawn Monday at a hotel across from the U.S. Capitol that wasn’t entirely to his liking and about as un-Las-Vegas-y as can be (no room service). He was practicing for a strange new role in life: testifying today before a House committee.

Cole and his wife, Monique, are in Washington to speak about construction safety, specifically the death of a family member at CityCenter last year.

Monday was a day of rehearsal. After Monique woke up, he read the testimony aloud to her, again and again. The week before they worked on handwritten draft after draft, until she finally typed a version into the computer to help out a husband who had mastered steel beams but never a keyboard.

Cole’s testimony has to be so many things: a compelling emotional appeal from a man who lost his brother-in-law in a preventable construction accident; a direct rebuke of the federal government’s policy on construction standards for steel erection; an opportunity to bring his wife’s family some closure.

Most important, it’s a chance to educate lawmakers and the public about what Cole, with 42 years of ironwork experience in Las Vegas, thinks needs to be changed to make construction safer.

A lot rides on Cole’s five once-in-a-lifetime minutes. His only previous public speaking engagements involved teaching classes to ironworker apprentices, and his only political involvement was as a representative to a state Democratic Party convention in the 1980s, where, he says, he had a very small role.

“It’s like being the last batter in the bottom of the ninth, and your team is down with the bases loaded, and you’ve got to win,” said his wife, putting finishing touches on the remarks later Monday in a conference room across from the Capitol. “George has got to win this game.”
Monique’s brother, Harold “Rusty” Billingsley, died Oct. 5 when he fell 59 feet through a flooring hole that never should have existed at the main casino building in CityCenter. He wasn’t wearing his safety harness and his employer had not placed temporary decking or netting beneath him, as state law required.

Billingsley’s death and construction safety up and down the Strip have grown as an issue since March, when the Las Vegas Sun wrote extensively about safety lapses.
Billinglsey’s death has become Exhibit One for ironworkers outraged over unsafe work sites in Las Vegas and nationwide. As the Sun wrote, Billingsley was one of 12 construction workers who have died at Strip sites in less than 19 months.

Workers say the fast pace of construction in Las Vegas leads to safety shortcuts. Cole, workers and others criticize the Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration for withdrawing citations issued to contractors for lapses that contributed to fatalities, including Billingsley’s.
“As a contractor, I’ve been out there and seen dead bodies on construction sites, but it didn’t hit home until I saw Rusty in the morgue,” Cole said. “I had never seen how much pain there is for family members.”

This month workers walked off the $9.2 billion CityCenter project in a one-day work stoppage over what they say are unsafe conditions, and out of respect for Billingsley and the five other men who have died there.

Prompted by leaders of the Ironworkers Western District Council, the Coles have also become concerned about what’s known as a federal “compliance directive” that interprets OSHA standards for safety flooring. That directive allows builders, in certain cases, to avoid providing the flooring required by OSHA law. If decking had been in place under Billingsley, Cole says, it would have broken his fall and he might have survived.

Using Billingsley’s death as an example, the Ironworkers recently persuaded Nevada OSHA to rescind that interpretation and begin following the safety flooring law.

“What killed Rusty was not having that floor decked,” Cole said, dodging groups of schoolchildren as he soaked up a view of the Capitol Monday afternoon after finishing his practicing.
“That made me mad. That made me want to do something.”

The previous time Cole was in Washington he was a “very young man” passing through on a whirlwind trip that took him from Niagara Falls to Gettysburg, he recalled.
At 64, Cole speaks deliberately, sometimes with a cigarette hanging from his mouth. He knows he needs to add emotion during the testimony. He’s working on that.
Monique, 48, is prone to breaking down, especially when she hears George speak of her brother’s death.

“When we found out about OSHA’s abatement of the fines, it opened up this huge hole in our souls, but I think this experience will finally start to heal our hearts,” Monique Cole said. “When I read the e-mail that they wanted George to testify, it was like pennies from heaven. I called my sisters and we all cried. I just felt like there was finally an opportunity for change.”

The hearing today before the Education and Labor Committee is intended to take a broad look at OSHA’s enforcement record on construction safety, focusing on Las Vegas and New York City.
“Serious questions have arisen on whether our nation’s health and safety agencies are doing enough to enforce safety standards at construction sites,” a spokesman for the committee chairman, Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., said in a written statement.

Nevada Rep. Shelley Berkley is not a member of the committee but plans to sit at the dais.
“Las Vegas has seen a high number of workers killed at local construction sites and I am hopeful this hearing will shine a spotlight on what must be done to better protect those who are on the job and at risk,” Berkley said. “We owe it to the families of those who have lost their lives to examine if better training, stronger safety standards or more stringent enforcement could have prevented these deaths and how we move forward on better addressing the critical issue of worker safety.”
Nevada Republican Rep. Jon Porter is not sure whether he will attend, a spokesman said. Porter met Friday with federal OSHA officials to discuss the situation in Las Vegas, the spokesman said.
For the Coles, the key has been to whittle down the many things they would like to talk about into one directed appeal. They reached that conclusion after receiving help from Steve Rank, an Ironworkers official affiliated with the union’s Western District Council who has been trying to raise awareness for years about federal OSHA’s use of compliance directives. Rank flew in from California to help edit Cole’s testimony Monday morning.

And so the topic of the safety flooring and compliance directives will make up the bulk of Cole’s testimony.

“Our whole agenda is that if this saves one life from this day forward, I think we did our part, but hopefully it saves a lot more,” Cole said.

Sun Washington correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this story.

Monday, June 23, 2008

WBAI 99.5 FM

WBAI 99.5 FM and it is simultaneous webcast wbai.org
You may view the audio file is posted on the WBAI website for 90 days. So take a listen!

WBAI 99.5 Radio Segment
Archive
Health Action
Monday, June 23, 2008 1:00 pm
Public Affairs
Corporate threats to health, activism, access issues.

Hosted by: Jonathan Bennett NYCOSH
Participants: Roger Cook of WNYCOSH
Tammy Miser of USMWF

Friday, June 20, 2008

David Michaels

Tomorrow, Saturday June 21st, David Michaels will be the guest on the Firedoglake Book Salon, talking about his new book “Doubt is Their Product: How Industry’s Assault on Science Threatens Your Health.” Jordan Barab will be the guest moderator for the session.

Please join David Michaels and Jordan Barab from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM Eastern time Saturday, at Firedog Lake , for what will be an exciting conversation. If you’d like to know more about the book, view an excerpt, some reviews and some of the “smoking gun” documents revealed in the book at Defendingscience.org

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Remember Dan Golden!

(A Letter from a concerned Safety Manager)

Below is a letter I received last week and I spoke to Jane over the weekend and this is one tough cookie. In posting this I was hoping to gain a few contacts that may know a little more about chemicals and maybe some suggestions on how to help Dan's family keep up the fight, Dan's last pleas and a saftey professional fulfill a promise.

Tammy and Jordan,

For a long time now, I have read the columns from both of you. You so eloquently describe the struggles faced by so many workers in workplaces that are not safe. Tammy, you have reminded us to not forget the deaths of so many. Unfortunately today we must add another name to your list.

Dan Golden worked most of his life at the Hanford Nuclear Site. He worked as a Rigger, supporting the many varied crane operations that take place at the Site. On a particularly blue sky day in May of 2002, Dan and his crew were moving long lengths of piping used as a giant pressure washer to break up solids in underground Tank TX-116 in the Hanford Tank Farms. As the piping was lifted out of the tank and moved to a flat bed truck for transport to another tank, the piping held horizontally in the air by the crane, tipped just slightly, releasing "the green goo" as workers referred to the tank waste. Dan was in closest proxity and was spattered down his left side, his arm, and his face. The side shield on his safety glasses prevented the radiologically and chemically contaminated tank waste from contacting his eyes.

The emergency response was akin to the keystone cops. CH2M Hill supervision were more focused on the spill to the ground and the immediate notification to the State of Washington environmental regulators, The Dept. of Ecology. Dan said he stood there dripping in tank waste while most around him struggled to figure out just what to do next. There were no decontamination supplies available, so two of the nuclear operators ran to an adjacent vehicle where they had a cooler of drinking water and some towels to wipe Dan down. Eventually, Dan was completely deconned and CH2M HILL patted themselves on the back for successfully containing the spilled liquid.

10 days later, I met Dan Golden for the first time. I had been the Safety and Health Manager for CH2M HILL Hanford Group for about two years, I had been visiting my recently widowed mother in Montana when the incident had occurred. When I returned, I heard about a radiological spill to the ground which required clean-up, but no mention of contact to a person. Nearly two weeks after the event, Dan called and asked me if he could meet with me to discuss a possible chemical exposure. He sat there in my office, related his story, visibly worried. He asked me what chemicals could have been present in the tank waste. Since the event he had noticed a change in his health. He described that he had passed blood in his urine. I asked if on the day of the event he had also been medically evaluated (which was a written procedure), No, it seemed that focus had been on the radiological decon and the support team had forgotten to assess the "chemical part of the waste". I immediate arranged for a medical consult and promised to find out what exactly was in the green goo from Tank TX-116, and send it to the doctors.

Two days later, the ugly truth presented itself. I could not tell Dan what chemicals had contacted him because Tank TX-116 had never been sampled. A process engineer calmly explained that there was little liquid left in the tank that held process waste from the nuclear materials processed in the 1950's and 1960's. Instead of sampling the tanks, estimations of the volume and constituents had been made based on the process chemicals and likely by-products. I asked, "So how have we estimated what vapors are emitted from tanks. How do know what employees have been exposed to when contactyed with liquids?" I was told the vapor concentrations were not sufficient to notify the State of an airborne release. Relieved to know that we had not affected the eagle nesting areas along the Columbia River, I asked "But what about employees who have their faces at the emission source with no respiratory pro tection worn? How do we know that they were not exposed? " Well, quite simply: sampling every tanks was just too costly and the DOE had made the decision years prior. The Emperor had no clothes and I now knew it.

I am not sure how I did it, but I managed to get that Tank sampled. It took 4 months and a speciall allocation of about $500,00 from the DOE. It all but ended my career at CH2M HILL. When the sampling schedule kept slipping, and I reminded the Operations manager that we had made a commitment to Dan to gather the constituent information for his doctors, This former Navy commander banged his fist with his Annapolis ring on the table and barked that I (lowly that I was as only the Safety manager) did not dictate his work priorities. I calmly told him and the room full of observers that he had no greater priority that get that job done so that we could provide the information that Dan's doctors' needed. I was regarded as not being a "Team player" and I had become "too close to the situation to be objective".

We got the data, but Dan's health continued to decline, I believe as much from worry as the exposure he received. The doctors could not figure out why he continued to get ill. I postulated some synergistic affect between the chemical and the radiological constituents, but I am no toxicologist. Just a field IH trying to make sense of it all. Dan's application for workman's compensation was denied because there was no directly link between his symptoms and the chemicals. He filed a lawsuit. I was deposed for 4 hours by my former employer. I was asked, "Why did I believe the event was responsible for Dan's illness?" I asked, "How were they sure that it was not?" In a report I found later that CH2M HILL Hanford Group had contracted the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to prepare ( while I was exiled to a new office that had been the former office supplies closet), researchers postulated that some 1800 chemicals constituents were likely in the vapor phase of the headspace of the Tanks. But the common practice when I was the Safety and Health manager was to only characterize 70 constituents in the routine sampling that was conducted in the Hanford Tanks that were sampled." So, I told the well-dressed, but poorly manicured junior attorney from Lathim and Watkins working for CH2M HILL but mostly paid for with DOE funds I contributed to as a taxpayer, " Any 2nd grader can tell you that leaves 1730 chemicals uncharacterized and unaccounted for, some of which are carcinogens." Dan's lawsuit was also dismissed because of the EEOICPA loophole. Finally, Dan's EEOICPA claim was also denied because his spreading liver cancer could also not be directly linked to the chemicals "thought" to be in the tank.

I eventually found other work and friends kept me informed of Dan's declining health. Yesterday Dan Golden died. I was here at the ASSE National Convention listening to Ed Foulke and John Howard tell a packed house of Safety professionals of all that their agencies were doing to "ensure that workers have a safe and healthful workplace". I kept thinking of Dan. What had I missed? What more could I have done? Did I quit too soon after incurrring that wrath of CH2M HILL that made me no longer employable in the DOE? I am struggling with answers today.

So I turn to you. Help me make sure that Dan is remembered. What can I do? Dan is the example that the DOE cannot be both the customer and the regulator. Because when budgets are tight, as they are now, the workers loose because DOE the customer finds the way to get the contractors to the work in the most cost-effective way and DOE the regulator does only the minimum. This dichotomy and continued cutting of corners will only increase the body count.

My deepest appreciation to both of you for what you do each day.

Most sincerely,

Jane Doe

Monday, June 16, 2008

Committee on Education and Labor

Committee to Explore Worker Intimidation Not to Report On-The-Job Injuries and Illnesses

On Thursday, June 19, the Committee will explore the failure of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration to collect accurate statistics on workplace injuries and illnesses, and the effects on workplace safety when employers pressure employees not to report injuries and illnesses. Officials at OSHA cite record low workplace injuries and fatalities as evidence that worker safety is improving. The agency uses these statistics reported by employers, in part, to target inspections, evaluate its performance, and to determine when new health and safety standards may be needed. Some critics, however, say that the reporting system is flawed and gives employers an incentive to underreport injuries. A number of studies show that as many as two-thirds of all workplace injuries and illnesses are not reported.
WHAT: Hearing on “The Hidden Tragedy: Underreporting of Workplace Injury and Illness Statistics”
WHO: Witnesses TBA
WHEN: Thursday, June 19, 2008, 10:30 a.m. EDT
Please check the Committee's schedule page for potential updates »

WHERE: House Education and Labor Committee Hearing Room
2175 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C.

9/11 Families

Dear 9/11 Family Member:

In collaboration with Layalina Productions, Visionaire Media is planning to travel to Spain and the Middle East early in July for three weeks with three Americans who lost loved ones on 9/11 as they reach out to other victims of Al Qaeda terrorism. We are seeking diversity of race, age and sex with different social and political perspectives.

We will be traveling with a full documentary film crew to record their journey, and we will film again in September as our characters and the people whom they have met come to the UN in what should be a powerful indictment of terrorism because of the enormous toll in human suffering.

We will be meeting in Manhattan with those interested in participating in this journey next Wednesday and Thursday June 18th and 19th.

Individuals interested should be able to travel for 18 days beginning just after July 4th. We will pay all expenses, air travel and a per diem.

Please feel free to distribute this.

Individuals interested can also go to Visionairemedia.com and www.layalina.tv for more about us.

Individuals who wish to meet with us should call 323-6682362 and speak with Jennifer to schedule an appointment.

Your interest is appreciated.

Mines on the Mind

Excuses and stalling seem to be game play for MSHA and Mine owners. One that comes to mind is Chad Cook and if you remember we started a petition Justice For Chad! Not long after the petition and several blogs and news articles they finally issued findings which unfortunately featured the mines investigation since it was the only documented information. It was a bitter sweet day. We were elated because we felt Cook's family would be able to go on but it seemed to be more of a token than an investigation (Success For The Cooks).

Well the inept MSHA is in the news again with:

The Courier-Journal's recent articles Good/Bad News and Investigation Drags on at Troubled Kentucky Mine.

In 2005 Russell was killed in Stillhouse Mine #1 and since then have had violations but guess what there are still no fines imposed and the mine is still running. Personally I think the good news is for the mine owners and the bad news is we will certainly loose more family members.

Claudia Cole's husband, Russell Cole, a 39-year-old veteran foreman, was one of the men killed in the roof fall, along with 23-year-old Brandon Wilder, a scoop operator with less than a year of mining experience. "I still think about it all the time," Claudia Cole said of her loss and the ensuing investigative delay. "I do wonder why it takes so long."

Tony Oppegard former federal and state mine-safety now advocating for safer mines. "I know everybody has workload concerns, but you ought to know in three years whether you're going forward," Oppegard said. "And if you don't know, you run the risk of attorneys for the company saying they've been prejudiced by the delay and asking at some point to dismiss the charges."

It really is a shame that workers/unions and their families have to fight tooth and nail with no real recourses for every little effort that MSHA and OSHA put into place. It hasn't been that long since Melissa Lee talked to 60 Minutes. Sooner or later those in charge of our health and safety will realize we are not just going to set back and take it any longer so they may as well fulfill their job descriptions. It would be nice the next time around to appoint someone who hasn't fought for the companies before they vowed to fight for us, seems like just a little conflict of interest.

Any how just thought I would share this one so everyone knew the fight was still on and looks like Tony is hard at work so if you get a chance give him your support by at least commenting on one of the articles! for the Cole's your in our thoughts and prayers.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Weekly Toll: Death In The American Workplace

Woman Killed Trying To Close Up Gas Station

ELYRIA, Ohio -- Elyria police have a man in custody in connection with the slaying of a gas station clerk. The clerk, 27-year-old Qiana Walton, was shot and killed as she was closing the store early Saturday morning. Police said they arrested 27-year-old Vincent W. Jackson Jr. at about noon after a four-hour standoff. Employees of the gas station are grieving the loss of a friend. "She was never rude to nobody. It was not fair," said her co-worker. Walton was shot and killed during the robbery at the Gas USA on Middle Avenue at about 12:30 a.m. "Qiana was the most beautiful person in the world. There was nothing anybody could do to make her angry. She was just so pleasant and beautiful and we all miss her terribly," said Rosetta Lankey.


killed 2 at bottling plant

CONCORD, NC - Police say shooting deaths possibly came from a botched robbery at the Concord Sun Drop facility.Police were continuing the search Friday night for a man who fatally shot two people at the Sun Drop Bottling Co. in Concord in what may have been a botched robbery. One victim was longtime office employee Donna Klinesmith Barnhardt, 59, of Concord, said Deputy Concord Police Chief Guy Smith. Barnhardt had worked at Sun Drop for 18 years. The other victim was Darrell Wayne Noles, 44, of Concord. He was applying for a job, said the Rev. Donnie Tomlin, whose wife is Noles' niece.


Ala. chemical weapons worker dies of heart attack

BIRMINGHAM, AL — A worker at an incinerator that destroys chemical weapons for the Army died of an apparent heart attack he suffered while working, a coroner said Thursday. There was no indication that Roderick Traylor's death had anything to do with nerve agents, Calhoun County Coroner Pat Brown said. Traylor, 45, experienced breathing difficulties in a car Wednesday outside the Anniston Army Depot, where a chemical weapons incinerator is located. The car's driver pulled over at a depot entrance and officers called an ambulance, but Traylor was pronounced dead. "It has all the appearances that it's going to be a natural death, but it's still under investigation," the coroner said. Traylor was a subcontractor for Westinghouse Anniston, which operates the incinerator. He worked for Columbus, Ohio-based Battelle, a nonprofit independent research and development organization.


Worker Falls 25 Floors To His Death

DIEGO, CA - A construction worker falls to his death, dropping from the 35th floor to the 10th-story balcony of a building under construction in downtown San Diego, fire officials said. It happened around 7 a.m. at the Vantage Pointe Building, located at 10th Avenue and A Street. A 911 call was made from somebody at or near the construction site, who saw the accident happen, according to Maurice Luque, spokesman for the San Diego Fire Rescue Department. A co-worker of the victim, who did not want to be identified, told NBC 7/39 the man was wearing a harness at the time, and whatever the harness was attached to came loose, causing the fall. The man landed 25 floors below on a platform. He was pronounced dead at the scene. San Diego police officials and Cal-OSHA were called in to handle the investigation. "Once it's determined to be a fatality, we remove ourselves from the scene and turn the investigation either to the police department or state officials," said Luque. The victim was later identified as Valentin Michel-Madrigal, 21, of Chula Vista. A co-worker told NBC 7/39 that two men, who he said were the victim's brother and father, went to the scene after the fatal fall. The relatives were seen being consoled by workers from the site.


City worker dies in hospital after fall from bucket truck

Bryan, TX - A city of Bryan employee died Tuesday, a day after he was thrown from the "cherry picker bucket" he was using to repair a traffic signal. Alex Constancio was tipped out of a bucket about 25 feet above ground on Texas 21 at the corner of Harvey Mitchell Parkway when the top of a Sanderson Farms truck hit the bottom of his bucket. Linda Constancio said Tuesday that her husband was full of plans for the future. The 50-year-old dreamed of retiring in two years to travel across the U.S. with his wife. "He talked about being a grandfather and about walking our girls down the aisle," she said. "We were looking forward to retiring. He wanted to go west." Constancio died just before noon at St. Joseph Regional Health Center in Bryan. Police said the driver of the truck was traveling west in the outside lane of Texas 21 behind a van that braked suddenly at the traffic light.


Two dead in Elgin power line mishap

Chicago,IL - Two workers who were painting the Route 20 bridge over the Fox River in Elgin died late Wednesday morning when their truck came in contact with a power line. The accident occurred about at 11:25 a.m. west of Raymond Street, which is on the river's east side. City spokeswoman Sue Olafson said firefighters arrived on the scene to find the truck on fire. Two workers, both men, were badly burned and pronounced dead at the scene. Neither has been identified. The men worked for a company hired by the Illinois Department of Transportation to paint the bridge, Olafson said. They had just begun painting when they came in contact with the wires.


Meadows trainer died of chest injuries

Pittsburgh,PA - Even though caring for race horses was a seven-day-a-week job for Clarence Walters, the Washington County man couldn't wait to get to work in the mornings to be with the animals. "Most days he'd be out there at 5 a.m. warming up the horses and doing whatever needed to be done. He was a great horseman and he loved his job," said David Palone, whose family employed Walters as a horse caretaker. "Knowing how much he cared about those horses is what makes this tragedy so difficult to deal with." Walters, 58, died Wednesday after a horse kicked him in the chest about 7:30 a.m. while he was working alone at a farm the Palones lease on Armstrong Drive in Canton.


Killed MoDOT Worker Was Department Veteran

KANSAS CITY, MO - Missouri highway workers were in mourning after learning that one of their own was killed on the job on Wednesday. The accident happened about 9:30 Wednesday morning on eastbound I-70 near Charlotte Street. Michael York, 51, from Drexel, Missouri was a maintenance crew leader and has worked for MoDOT for more than 27 years.


1 worker dead, 1 injured after being struck by motorist on I-57, Driver hit truck picking up traffic barrels

Chicogo, IL - A 41-year-old IDOT worker with four children was killed and another worker injured Wednesday when they were hit by a vehicle on Interstate Highway 57 on Chicago's Far South Side. Jose Manuel Chavez of Berwyn was the first worker killed in an Illinois highway work zone this year, an IDOT spokesman said. He died shortly after being taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. Nicolas Tapia, 39,of Melrose Park was treated at Stroger Hospital for a head injury and released.


Body found in debris of Goodyear plant explosion, Victim's husband angry over delay in accounting for her

Huston, TX - Rescue workers should have searched sooner, and more thoroughly, in an area of the Goodyear Houston chemical plant where an employee died in an explosion, her husband said today. Raymond McInnis, a Goodyear retiree who worked for 38 years at the same plant, said he has many questions about plant officials' actions in the hours after his 55-year-old wife, Gloria M. McInnis, died early Wednesday. "They let her lay there seven hours," said McInnis, 71, who retired 12 years ago. "Was she dead at the time (of the explosion), or did she die later?" Goodyear confirmed today that the worker who was killed was Gloria McInnis. A company spokesman said she had worked there for 32 years. The family expects to file a lawsuit against the company, their lawyer said this afternoon. The suit will charge "gross negligence'' against the company, attorney Terry Bryant said.


Ashdown sanitation worker arrested in clerk's fatal shooting

NASHVILLE, Ark. - Authorities say they've arrested an Ashdown sanitation department employee in connection with last month's shooting death of a Nashville clerk. Authorities arrested 37-year-old Harry Eugene Surber Tuesday morning on suspicion of murder. Prosecutor Tom Cooper says the particular murder charge has not yet been determined, and that Surber faces a June 18 arraignment. Surber was arrested in the death of 42-year-old Robin Camp, who was found shot to death inside a Nashville Family Dollar store. A customer found Camp's body on May 26. Authorities would not discuss a possible motive and wouldn't say whether Camp and Surber knew each other.


Man killed in industrial accident in Woodburn

Fort Wayne, IN - A Fort Wayne man was killed after being crushed in an industrial accident Tuesday morning at Midwest Tile & Concrete in Woodburn, according to the Allen County Sheriff’s Department. Jose G. Gomez-Jimenez, 39, was pinned by a U-shaped arm weighing 600 to 800 pounds and used to carry cement slabs on a forklift, Sgt. Terry L. Furnish wrote in a report on the death. The accident occurred about 10 a.m. Midwest Tile, 4309 Webster Road, makes sanitary and storm products, according to its Web site. The company was fined for safety violations by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration in April as well as in 2006 and 2003.


Josephine County worker killed in transfer yard accident

GRANTS PASS, OR - Officials say a road worker has died at the Josephine County transfer yard. An official of the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division says he was crushed Monday between a dump truck and a trailer. The Grants Pass Daily Courier reports he was identified as 51-year-old Terry Smith, a 16-year county worker. Melanie Measaros of the state agency says he was caught between the truck and a trailer that slides into the dump truck area when not in use.


Oroville Worker Found Dead

Oroville, CA - In Oroville, a power plant worker is found dead in the workplace. 44 year old Paul Smith of Oroville was found dead early Tuesday morning at the Pacific Oroville Power Facility. Officers believe early Tuesday morning, Smith became caught in a piece of equipment that grinds wood chips. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the death. It's the second workplace death in the North State in the past week. Over the weekend 22 year old Branden Dent of Paradise was fatally injured at a drilling rig in Glenn County when a piece of equipment hit him in the head and chest.

Ambushed Tucson Police Dies, Shooter Faces Murder Charges

Tucson, AZ - A Tucson police officer shot in the head on Sunday by a man driving a car to escape pursuing police died Monday. Erik Hite, 43, passed away at 1 p.m. at the University Medical Center in Pima County, where he and two other deputy sheriffs shot by the suspect, David Nicholas Delich, 25, were taken for treatment. The deputies were released from the hospital on Monday. Delich was arrested on Sunday and charged with murder, attempted murder, and aggravated assault. The Pima County filed separate charges of attempted murder and shooting into a structure. Rick Kastigar, criminal investigations chief for the sheriff's department, recounted the shooting incident to Abc15.com and the Tucson Citizen.


3 dead, 1 missing in Midwest flooding

INDIANAPOLIS, IN -- Wicked weekend storms with tornadoes and heavy rain pounded the Midwest, where at least three people drowned and one was missing in floodwaters that swallowed roads and neighborhoods. Rescuers in boats continued to pluck people from rising waters in Indiana, a day after more than 10 inches of rain deluged much of the state. At least one person drowned, and another person was missing after falling off an airboat in a flooded area, state police said. In Michigan, two delivery workers for The Grand Rapids Press drowned early Sunday when their car became submerged in a creek that washed out a road about 4 a.m. near Lake Michigan in Saugatuck Township, the newspaper said. At least one tornado hit the Omaha, Neb., area with little to no warning as people slept Sunday morning, damaging several dozen homes and businesses. No major injuries were reported. "I'd say it was a miracle no one got killed," said Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey as he toured a heavily damaged neighborhood in the west Omaha area of Millard


18-wheeler driver killed in crash with train

WALKER, LA - Another train accident involving a vehicle has happened in south Louisiana, and again, someone has died. It was just last Wednesday that two people were killed in Independence when an Amtrack train collided with their car. Monday's deadly accident was in Walker. It happened along Highway 190 near Sunland Road, which is on the eastern part of town, where Highway 190 begins to turn north back towards the tracks. The accident happened around 7:00 a.m. Walker police Chief Hunter Grimes says a tanker truck belonging to a mineral company out of Harahan slowly crossed the tracks and was hit on the passenger side by a train heading east.


Driver killed after truck bursts into flames

Columbia,SC - A man was killed after the cab of his truck burst into flames during a wreck about five miles east on Pelion on U.S. 178 on Monday afternoon. His name has not been released by the Lexington County coroner’s office, pending notification of next of kin. A John Deere combine traveling east pulled over to let traffic pass when a 2005 Freightliner truck and trailer loaded with cotton lost control, striking the combine and several trees, and then bursting into flames, the S.C. Highway Patrol said. The driver of the Freightliner was trapped in the cab. He was traveling too fast for conditions, the patrol said.


Man, 43, killed in head-on collision


Columbia,SC - A Lexington County man was killed in a head-on collision Sunday night. Edward Friendly Jr., 43, of Batesburg-Leesville, a press supervisor for The State newspaper, was killed when the 1992 Mercury Grand Marquis he was driving crossed the center line on Charter Oak Road, sideswiping one vehicle and then striking another head on, state Highway Patrol officials say. The driver of the first vehicle that was hit, a 2004 Ford pickup, was uninjured. The driver and passenger in a 2004 Honda Odyssey minivan were taken to an area hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries. The accident is under investigation.


Four-wheeler rolls, kills area farmer

Oneonta,NY - A Morris man tending to a sugar bush on his family's farm in New Lisbon died Friday when his four-wheeler rolled on top of him, according to the Otsego County Sheriff's Department. Dale L. Parker, 68, was using a device attached to his ATV to spray for tent caterpillars along the sap lines for his maple syrup business when the four-wheeler flipped sometime in the late afternoon, deputies said in a media release.


Worker dies in accident after wrestling event in Southaven

SOUTHAVEN, MS - A crew member with the TNA Wrestling promotion was killed Sunday night in an accident at the DeSoto Civic Center. The accident happened Sunday night around 11pm, shortly after a televised wrestling event concluded. Officials said a group of men was working to break down a metal backdrop, which was about 15 to 20 feet off the ground, when a scaffolding collapsed. Witnesses said two men were perched on opposite ends of the scaffolding when it fell. One of the men, a TNA Wrestling crew member, fell and hit the concrete. He was rushed to Baptist DeSoto hospital in Southaven, where he later died. Another worker with a local group, Crew 1, lost his thumb in the accident. He was taken to The MED, where he is expected to recover. Sunday's night accident was the second time a worker died in such an accident Southaven in the past two months. In April, Charles Christopher Houston died when he fell nearly 30 feet from a scaffolding at Southaven's Springfest. Monday, Holland's sister said Sunday's night's accident was a prime example of the need for increased safety regulations surrounding the type of work her brother did. Holland has started a petition aimed at encouraging venue organizers to use safety nets and take other steps to keep workers safe. "Each venue has to be responsible for making this different, so someone else's family doesn't have to go through this, and some other kid doesn't have to grow up without a father," she said. Holland said her brother knew the man who died in Sunday's accident, and had worked with him. The identity of the man who died Sunday night has not yet been released.


Chocolate factory fumes leave 1 dead, 2 sickened

A 30-year-old Blommer Chocolate Company worker died Sunday after he was overcome by a substance being used to process candy at the Near West Side factory, officials said. The man, whose name was not released (Geraldo Castillo, 30), was apparently working alone at a top floor of the factory at 600 W. Kinzie when he was overcome, Chicago Police said. He was pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.


Air ambulance crashes near Houston, 4 die

HOUSTON, TX - Four people died Sunday after their medical helicopter crashed inside Sam Houston National Forest in Texas, officials said. The PHI Air Medical team was based at Coulter Field in Bryan, Texas, the Houston Chronicle reported. The company that owns the private air ambulance identified three dead crewmembers as pilot Charles Wayne Kirby, flight nurse Jana Bishop and flight paramedic Stephanie Waters. The identity of the 58-year-old male patient who died in the crash was not released. "The helicopter was totally disintegrated upon impact," said Department of Public Safety Trooper John Sampa. "It took down a couple of pine trees." The helicopter was a Bell 407. It went down about 2:45 a.m. in a desolate area of the forest, while en route to Houston, the newspaper said. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were working to determine the cause of the crash.


Woman in 70s killed on Valley farm

Mesa,AZ - Authorities were investigating the shooting death of a woman in her late 70s Sunday on a dairy farm outside of Buckeye. The woman was killed on the farm that has been in her family for more than 30 years, said Deputy spokeswoman Lindsey Smith of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. The slaying took place about 1 p.m. and 15 to 20 farm workers were in the area at the time, she said. The woman, Path Van Leeuwen, was found in the home on the dairy farm on South Airport Road where she lives with her son, Smith said. She said the woman’s son called 911. The farm workers were outside of the home at the time of the shooting, Smith said. Homicide detectives were at the dairy farm all day Sunday investigating and interviewing the workers, Smith said. Police have yet to identify a suspect in the shooting, she said. “It doesn’t appear that it was self-inflicted,” Smith said. “It’s clearly a homicide


Shores officer dies in crash

Mount Clemens, MI - Off-duty accident may have been due to medical condition. A popular St. Clair Shores police officer was killed Friday night when his truck veered into the path of an oncoming Hummer on Jefferson Avenue in Harrison Township. "He really didn't see it coming," Sheriff Mark Hackel said. Officer Clinton Rice, in his early 50s, had to be extracted from the vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene, while the driver and passenger in the Hummer were treated for minor injuries at Mount Clemens Regional Medical Center.


Paradise Man Killed in Work Accident

Branden Dent, 22, of Paradise, was killed Friday night while working for Ensign United States Drilling Company just south of Willows on County Road 68. According to Ensign officals, the accident happened around 10 p.m. Friday, when a cable broke, setting loose a piece of machinery that fell onto his chest. Dent, who was working with a crew of about five men at the time, was pronounced dead at the scene. Cal-Osha, the Glenn County Sheriff's office and Ensign are interviewing crew members, taking measurements and pictures to figure out why the cable broke.


Deadly accident at car wash

QUEENS, NY - A hit and run accident at a local car wash left one person dead on Thursday. Police are looking for the employee who set off a chain reaction, hitting a car that struck two workers, before taking off. The accident happened at South Conduit Ave. and 248th Street around 11:30 this morning in Rosedale, Queens. Investigators said two workers were drying an SUV when the Jeep driven by another worker plowed into them before speeding away. "They were drying the car, and the other guy hit the car and the guys," said Nathan Benjamin, the manager of the car wash. Relatives of one of the victims showed up at the scene as police conducted their investigation.
"I don't know how anything could happen in a freaking car wash. It's supposed to be safe," one relative told reporters before rushing off to the hospital. Olsten Kilkenny watched in horror as one of the men cleaning his SUV was hit.


Man killed in mine accident

NY - Worker crushed when rock ceiling collapses; second miner suffers minor injuries. One man died and another suffered minor injuries in a mine accident Saturday morning at St. Lawrence Zinc Co. Willard Paul Clewis, 40, of 84 Depot St., Gouverneur, was drilling into a wall on a platform 2,100 feet below ground about 10:30 a.m. when the ceiling above him collapsed. He was pinned beneath a slab of rock that measured 8 feet by 4 feet, state police said. "We had a fatality and we're coming to grips with that," General Manager Michael J. "Mick" Lawler said. "It's been a number of years since we've had a fatal accident. It's a pretty big shock." St. Lawrence Zinc is owned by HudBay Materials, Winnipeg, Manitoba.



Gunman kills Perry official, employee, himself

HAZARD, Ky. - A man shot and killed a Perry County official and a county employee at a convenience store yesterday before killing himself, authorities said. Kentucky State Police Trooper Tony Watts said the shooting happened between 11:30 and 11:45 a.m. outside Ben's Quick Stop in the Chavies community of Perry County. Deputy Perry County Coroner Kyle Wolfe identified the gunman as Jerry Fugate, 55, of Rowdy. Kentucky State Police said in a press release that Fugate pulled a shotgun from his truck and shot fiscal court Magistrate Jimmy Darrell Neace, 54, of Hazard, and road department employee Lew Caudill, 60, of Jeff, once each at close range in the convenience store's parking lot. He then shot himself, police said. All three were pronounced dead at the scene. Perry County Judge-Executive Denny Ray Noble said Fugate had taken a leave from a county job as a truck driver last October because of a back problem.



Veteran state police officer dies in rollover

TIERRA AMARILLA, N.M. - A 26-year veteran state police officer died today after a single-vehicle rollover crash in Rio Arriba County. Lt. Michael Avilucea, 51, was pronounced dead at the Tierra Amarilla clinic. Avilucea was a Las Cruces resident who served as commander of the state police's explosive ordnance disposal team. He also was assistant commander of the Alamogordo district office. Avilucea was returning from Chama, where he had been on assignment to help with the recovery of explosives. The crash occurred about 2:30 p.m. on U.S. 84 about three miles south of Tierra Amarilla. The cause of the accident is under investigation.


Kiefer police officer dies in crash

Oklahoma City,OK — A Kiefer police sergeant died Thursday morning after his cruiser was involved in a two-vehicle crash in Rogers County, authorities said. Les Wilmott, 54, died at the scene. The accident happened shortly after midnight on northbound U.S. 169 at State Highway 88, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. Troopers said Wilmott was driving north on U.S. 169 when he rear-ended a tractor-trailer driven by Luis A. Lara, 33, of Laredo, Texas. Lara was not hurt.


GE Rail Services employee dies when struck by railcar

WATERLOO, IA - An employee of GE Rail Services died Friday afternoon, authorities said. Waterloo Police Lt. Michael McNamee confirmed the employee was struck by a railcar just before 2:30 p.m. at the company's facility at 200 Nevada St. The name of the victim is being withheld pending notification of family. McNamee said the death appears to be accidental. "There's no reason to believe it's not," he said. According to a previous published report, the Waterloo facility is one of six locations in the nation that maintains and repairs General Electric-owned railcars. About 1,800 are leased to various companies.


Marshall employee dies, five injured in chase

Huntsville,AL - A Marshall Space Flight Center employee was killed today when a woman being pursued by Huntsville police crashed into the man's truck on Redstone Arsenal. The woman's vehicle T-boned 50-year-old Darren Spurlock's truck at Martin and Rideout roads. He died at the scene, police said. Five other people were injured in the chase on Memorial Parkway and Martin Road that ended about four miles inside Gate 1. Police spokesman Wendell Johnson said drug agents were serving warrants in the area of McVay and Patton roads about 1:15 p.m. when they noticed two women making what appeared to be a drug transaction. When the agents approached the women and identified themselves as police officers, the women fled, Johnson said.


Solano County Syar driver killed

A 52-year-old Syar Industries truck driver was killed in an industrial accident at the company’s Vallejo sand and gravel business on Lake Herman Road. William Hall, 52, of Vallejo, died on Tuesday when the 75-ton truck he was driving at the site backed down a 20-foot embankment, according to California Occupational and Health Safety Administration spokeswoman Kate McGuire. The trailer of the truck flipped over and landed on the cab, crushing Hall, she said. McGuire said CalOSHA is investigating the accident to determine if there are any violations to the state health and safety codes. She said the investigation could take three to four months to complete.


Wreck Kills Driver

CHESTERTON, IN - Chain reaction splits box truck in two, but occupant survives decimation of vehicle in cab. A truck driver was killed Tuesday on Indiana 49 after he apparently slammed into the back of a steel hauler, causing a chain reaction that split a small box truck in two. The driver, whose name was not yet released, was piloting a Centrella Foods semi north just south of Chesterton when he struck the back of an 18-wheeler hauling three steel coils. The crash occurred on Indiana 49 near the Indiana Toll Road at about 11:15 a.m. Conditions were dry at the time. On impact, the coils were knocked from the flat-bed trailer. One coil, according to Indiana State Police Motor Carrier Inspector Scott Fleming, apparently rolled onto the cab of the Centrella truck, crushing it and killing the driver.


Worker crushed to death in Grand Chute supply yard identified
Oshkosh, WI — The Waupaca man who died Wednesday night after being crushed by a piece of equipment in a company's yard has been identified as James A. Beatty, 53. Police, fire and medical personnel were called to Lincoln Contractor Supply and Fabco Rents, 5663 Neubert Road, about 6:50 p.m., and responders found Beatty trapped under heavy equipment, pulseless and not breathing. An autopsy is scheduled for today, the Outagamie County Coroner’s office said. Beatty was employed by an area trucking company and was pinned under a large platform lift. Fabco and LCS are two separate businesses in the same building, officials said.


Atlantic City employee shot and killed on street; suspect at large

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ - Marcus Hayes, a city Public Works employee — less than three months out of prison after serving 11 years for cocaine charges — died of gunshot wounds Friday after he was shot multiple times in front of the Chelsea Heights fire station in Atlantic City, Sgt. Monica McMenamin said. His shooter, described as man in braids and a sweatshirt last fleeing the scene towards a tan truck, was still at large hours later, McMenamin said. Firefighters at Station No. 5 heard the gunshots shortly after 11:30 a.m., Battalion Chief Michael Mooney said. They rushed out to find Hayes lying in the middle of the intersection at North Annapolis and Crossan avenues. Fire Chief Dennis Brooks said he was driving his sister Kathy Whelan — former Mayor Jim Whelan's wife — home when he got the call. He went straight there without dropping her off. “When I got here, I was stepping on bullet casings,” he said. “There were bullet casings everywhere. This place is like the Wild West.”


Worker killed by falling beam

Baltimore, MD - State safety workers are investigating the death of a Pennsylvania man who was struck on the head by a wooden beam at a construction site in northern Harford County yesterday. A 1,000-pound header beam that was being installed over a doorway of a wooden barn struck and killed Christopher Kohler, 42 of Wrightsville, Pa., authorities said. "The victim was on a lift and in the process of setting the header when it fell," said Sgt. David Betz, spokesman for the Harford County sheriff's office. The wooden beam, which was 18 feet off the ground, came loose and fell eight feet, striking Kohler, authorities said.


Injured Thomas County EMT dies

THOMASVILLE, GA — Charismatic. Patient. Enthusiastic. Genuine. Those are words used by Thomas County Emergency Medical Services Shift A personnel to describe their co-worker, Jeffrey Todd Harris, 37, a paramedic who died suddenly Monday from undetermined medical causes. Harris, an employee at county EMS since 1997, had an accident while on duty and went home to recuperate. He went to sleep and never woke up. “He was exactly what a paramedic should be,” Lonnie Bass, a co-worker, said Wednesday. “He was awesome at his job. He was an awesome professional and person.”


Apple Tree worker dies of injuries, Maiden man helping to cut down tree struck in head by limb

HICKORY - A Maiden man died Tuesday evening after being injured while on his tree-cutting job. Michael Wayne Redman, 39, was on the job with Apple Tree Services, owned by his brother, William. He was on the ground with another employee working the pulley when tragedy struck.“When the tree hit the ground, a piece of dead limb ricocheted and hit him in the back of the head,” William Redman said. “He was about 20 feet away, what he thought was a safe zone, but he had his back toward the tree.”


McHenry school bus driver dies on way to get students

A school bus driver heading out to pick up students for his morning route died at the wheel early Thursday morning. McHenry Deputy Chief Bill Brogan said the driver, Robert C. Belletynee, 66, of McHenry, was slowing down to turn onto Crystal Lake Road from Route 120 in McHenry when he slumped over and died from a medical condition, possibly a heart attack. The bus continued eastbound on Route 120 before jumping a curb, hitting a fence and coming to a rest in a vacant lot near the intersection. The bus was empty at the time except for Belletynee, Brogan said. There were no injuries reported. "The bus wasn't going too fast because he was slowing down to make the turn onto Crystal Lake Road," Brogan said. "We're fortunate there were no other vehicles involved and no one else was hurt in the accident."


Bizarre accidental death at Orangeburg Foods farm

ORANGEBURG, SC - The end of the work day at Orangeburg Foods was marked by the bizarre death of one of the workers. After 2 p.m. Thursday, 39-year-old Jorge Narvaez of St. Matthews died at the bottom of one of the corn silos. The coroner says Narvaez and two other co-workers had just finished cleaning the silo. The trio were on top of the silo as a new batch of corn was being poured in. The coroner says that's when Narvaez accidentally fell into the silo. It wasn't the fall that killed him, but the torrent of falling corn that did. He died of suffocation. Narvaez's co-workers tried to dig him out of the corn for ten minutes, but were unsuccessful.


Beloved farmer killed: Family carries on in wake of tragic accident

FARMINGTON — Less than a day had passed since Arthur Scruton was killed in a farming accident, yet Monday, his family was back at work. There was grass to cut and an appointment with a veterinarian to keep. As his son, Jason, said, "You just can't forget about all of the animals that were under my father's care." Arthur's daughter, Katherine Carroll, knew there would be no pause. "I was raised on the farm, so I was thinking the cows have to be milked," she said. "Unfortunately, with the business that my Dad ran, you can't take a day off." Arthur William Scruton, who was 58, born in Rochester and raised in town, knew the life well. "He always knew he was going to be a farmer, since he was a little boy," his daughter said...The family still harvested the fields there, and Arthur was finishing up work before supper when he attempted to open a harrow connected to a tractor and there was a hydraulic failure, his family said. A side bar to the soil-leveling machine, which flips open for use, struck him and landed on him, they said.


Worker, 53, dies after being found pinned under equipment

GRAND CHUTE, Wis. - Authorities in Outagamie County are investigating the death of a trucking-company employee who was found pinned under a piece of heavy equipment. Grand Chute police who responded to the call Wednesday evening say they found the 53-year-old Waupaca man unresponsive. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Police Lt. Jerome Martin says the man was last seen preparing to unload the equipment from a flatbed truck. The man's name hasn't been released.


Construction Worker's Death Ruled 'Homicide'

NEW YORK - A man who was found dead at a Brooklyn construction site earlier this week was the victim of homicide, police said. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Wednesday the victim was a night watchman at a construction site on Park Place in Crown Heights. He was found toward the back of the site and his wallet and keys were missing, Kelly said. The victim had a blunt impact to his head, resulting in skull fractures and brain injuries, the medical examiner said. He was found on the site Monday by another construction worker, police said.


Cab driver shot in head in Salem

SALEM, Ore. - Police say a cab driver survived a gunshot wound to the head during a weekend robbery. Salem Police Lt. Dave Okada said the shooting occurred Saturday after the driver dropped off a passenger in northeast Salem. Okada would not say how much money was stolen, if any. No arrests have been made. The cab driver's name has not been released, but he's in his 50s and had been working with the Affordable Taxi Co. for about a month. He was treated and released from Salem Hospital. Okada could not recall the last time a cab driver was shot in Salem. But 10 years ago, 36-year-old Michelle Howard was found dead in her cab, killed by a single gunshot to the head. The author and economist had been on the job only two weeks before her death.


Houston farmer found dead after tractor rolls

HOUSTON, Minn. -- A farmer died Sunday, apparently in a tractor rollover, at his farm about three miles south of Houston, the Houston County Sheriff's Office reports. Larry E. Thorson, 63, was pronounced dead at the scene, in the 8400 block of Houston County Road 4 in Sheldon Township. It appeared the tractor had rolled, a sheriff's deputy reported. The accident involved just Thorson, according to the report. The cause of Thorson's death was listed as unknown Monday, pending an autopsy, the sheriff''s office said.


Farmington farmer killed in equipment accident

FARMINGTON, N.H. - A Farmington, New Hampshire, dairy farmer has been killed in an accident on his farm. Fifty-8-year-old Arthur Scruton died Sunday when a piece of equipment fell on him. Scruton was in charge of his family's dairy operation, waking each morning at 3:30 to milk the cows before tending to the crops.


Anderson Speedway worker killed on track

ANDERSON, Ind. — A safety crew member killed by a race car at Anderson Speedway entered the track too soon on a caution and had his back to oncoming traffic, track officials said. The coroner said 49-year-old Roy Hiatt died from blunt-force injuries to the head and chest. It was not clear why Hiatt went onto the track when he did during Saturday's Pay Less Little 500. Track owner Rick Dawson said Hiatt was trying to clean up an oil spill. Dawson added that driver Tyler Underwood did not see Hiatt in time to avoid hitting him and witnesses shouted to get Hiatt's attention. Dawson said it was the first death on the track since he bought it about 12 years ago.


Worker killed in crane accident was a young father and veteran

Providence,RI - The construction worker killed when a massive crane boom collapsed Friday at the Iatan Power Plant near Weston was identified Tuesday as 23-year-old Terry Eugene Stimpson of Peculiar. A U.S. Army veteran of the Iraq war, Stimpson is survived by his wife, Alexandria, and two children. He grew up in of Chillicothe, Mo. The boom for the crane collapsed as it was being lowered after a test of wind speed determined that its use was unsafe. It has been used to install pollution control equipment on Unit 1, the operating plant next to a second unit under construction by the Kansas City Power & Light Co. Three other workers injured during the collapse were treated and released, said Steven Goldberg, a spokesman for Alstom Power Inc. of Windsor, Conn., the general contractor for the new plant and the pollution control retrofit for Unit 1. Construction crews returned to the job site Tuesday, said Bill Downey, chief executive officer of KCP&L. The site and the collapsed crane are quarantined as teams investigate what caused the accident, Downey said.


Man who died in crushing accident remembered as 'awesome'

SANTA ANA, CA – Randy Ribota, crushed at Anaheim work site last week, will be buried in Santa Ana today. A 49-year-old man with a big laugh and a love of family will be buried here today, a week after he was crushed to death in an industrial accident at an Anaheim work site. Investigators believe that Randy Ribota, 49, was working near a metal bin filled with rocks and rubble when it toppled over and pinned him. A fellow worker found him face down and unconscious; he was dead by the time paramedics arrived. Ribota grew up in Santa Ana but was living in Garden Grove, according to his niece, Denise Fernandez. She said his twin brother died last year of medical problems.

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