Thursday, July 26, 2012

The Weekly Toll: Death in the American Workplace


 Hotel Employee Falls Into Elevator Shaft

Dec 29, 2011 - San Antonio, TX - 65 year old Gloria Rodriguez fell to her death down an elevator shaft while working for the Crockett Hotel in San Antonio.

Following are worker fatalities from 2012:

Semi Truck Backs Over Employee

Jan 4, San Antonio, TX - 40 year old Solomon W. Roberts died when he was crushed when a semi pinned him up against a loading dock.  He was the manager of CertiFit Auto Body Parts. 




Sanitation Struck by Work Truck


Jan 9, Newark, NJ - 38 year old Teeshon Small of East Orange suffered fatal injuries when he was struck by the sanitation truck he was attempting to jump on. He was employed by Newark Sanitation.


Worker Crushed by Equipment

March 2, Harleyville, SC - 32 year old DeWayne C. Smith was killed when he was pinned by a boom while operating a backhoe. It is unclear who Mr. Smith worked for.   


Worker Dies From Fall

March 6, Anchorage, AK - 47 year old Paul Ackerman of Fairbanks died while working at the SouthCentral Power Project in Anchorage.  He fell about 17 feet from an elevated platform.


Worker Struck by Semi

March 13, Knoxville, TN - 46 year old Tom Kerley died when he was struck by a semi backing down the driveway of a business. Kerley worked for ASG Ameri-Lam and the driver of the truck was employed by a transport company. 


Construction Worker Dies from Falling Material
March 19, Goffstown, NH - 19 year old Tyler Walsh was killed when he was struck in the head by a piece of metal.  Walsh was working on a construction site when he heard someone yell.  As he looked up a metal staging bracket was falling from the third story and struck him in the forehead.


Worker Struck by Vehicle

March 20, Dallas, TX - 53 year old Faustino Delapaz of Dallas was struck and killed by a catering truck while working at the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. He was struck in the chest by the truck, knocking him down and running over him.  


City Worker Dies in Manhole

March 21, Sulphur Springs, TX - 42 year old Francisco Melendez, an employee for the City of Sulphur Springs, drowned inside a manhole. Authorities say he was in the manhole attempting to remove a plug that allows water to flow. Somehow his foot got stuck and he drowned as the hole filled up with water.  


Industrial Incident Claims Worker's Life

March 23, Salt Lake City, UT - 34 year old Inoke Langi died when he was crushed under a piece of equipment.  Langi was employed with Cambelt International and he was working under a piece of equipment.  For an unknown reason, the equipment shifted, falling onto Langi.  


Worker Crushed Under Falling Material

March 23, Chino, CA - 34 year old Vays Dzhanayez of North Carolina was killed while offloading material at Herrington Industrial Plastics in Chino, CA.   He was removing straps from a load but it shifted and fell onto Dzhanayez.


 
 Worker Suffers Fatal Head Injury


March 24, Wyoming County, PA - 36 year old Jason Slavish of Luzerne died in an industrial incident at the Proctor & Gamble Paper Products Plant. The cause of the incident is not known, but authorities say he died of head trauma.


Contractor Dies at Refinery

March 25, El Paso, TX - 65 year old Herbert Casias died when he was crushed by a falling pipe while working as a contractor for Western Refining.

Metal Structure Collapses on Worker

March 29, Terrebonne, AL - 54 year old Anthony Giles of Rockford died when a metal structure he was using a cutting torch on collapsed onto him.  Giles was working for Mars Modern American Recycling Services.


Construction Worker Killed by Falling Debris

April 10, Chicago, IL - 37 year old James Quigley of Evergreen Park was killed by debris falling onto him at a construction site. Authorities say the debris may have been a piece of metal.  It is unknown who Quigley worked for.  


Tank Rupture Kills Worker

April 12, Broken Arrow, OK - Wesley Little died when a pressurized compressed natural gas tank he was working on ruptured, throwing him flying about 25 feet.  He was unscrewing a valve on the tank when it exploded off the tank, hitting Little in the chest. He was working in front of his CNG Oklahoma Auto Sales business when the incident happened.


Construction Worker Struck by Forklift

April 18, Plano, TX - 24 year old Michael Pishnick was killed on a Balfour Beatty construction site when a lull, or large forklift struck him. Pishnick was employed by MEI Rigging and Crating.


Forklift Incident Kills Laborer

April 19, Helendale, CA - 32 year old Jose Reyes of Santa Ana died after being struck by a forklift while helping to line a waste water pond. The forklift was moving heavy rubber rolls.  No one witnessed the incident but Reyes died of head trauma. 



Man Electrocuted at Feed Yard

April 24, Allen, NE - 29 year old Derrick Roth was electrocuted while working on a utility pole at the Dixon County Feed Yard in Allen. He was working for a private contractor at the feed yard.  Authorities do not know how or why he was electrocuted. 





Two Men of Toxic Exposure

April 26, Sylvester, TX - 19 year old Nicholas Walker and 19 year old Jeremy Claxton died when they were apparently overcome by carbon monoxide fumes. The men were working with a gas-powered water pump at the bottom of a hand dug 30 foot water well at the Pfluger China Creek Ranch.  It appears one man entered the well and fell unconscious, then the other man entered the space and also fell unconscious.  One man was submerged in water. 



Steel Worker Dies

April 27, Rapid City, SD - 26 year old Adam Klynsma died when he was struck by a 12 foot, 1,600 pound steel beam while working at TrueNorth's Steel fabricator's business. It is unclear how the incident happened.










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