Mobile Equipment Accidents #1

This page was last updated on   05/06/2010

N. Smithfield man, 38, dead after apparent accident in yard

NORTH SMITHFIELD — A man appears to have been fatally injured yesterday operating a backhoe in the back yard of his house at 903 Rocky Hill Rd. The man, who the police said was 38, was taken by rescue to North Smithfield High School, where he was to be taken by helicopter to a hospital. Before he could be taken away, however, a doctor pronounced the man dead, according to Lt. Bradley Aubin of the North Smithfield Police Department. Aubin said the man’s body was turned over to the state medical examiner’s office for an autopsy. He declined to release the man’s identity or provide details of the incident until the autopsy determines the exact cause of death. The man was found injured shortly after 4 p.m. Aubin said a preliminary investigation indicates there was nothing suspicious about the incident, that circumstances indicate the death was accidental.

Truck driver killed in landfill accident

By Laurie Dennis

An accident at the Superior FCR Landfill in Monticello Township Thursday, Dec. 27, resulted in the death of a 35-year-old Sauk Rapids man. Dean Roy Hall, a truck driver for Onyx Environmental Ser-vices, was working alone to deliver industrial waste to the landfill when he was trapped in his vehicle’s machinery. According to the Wright County Sheriff’s Department, Hall was crushed shortly be-fore noon while lowering a dump box on his semi-trailer rig. Hall died at the scene. Monticello firefighters spent over an hour at the landfill, working to extricate Hall. The death has been ruled an accident and is under investigation by county and state officials. This was a tragic accident, and our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of (Hall), who was a long-time employee of our company, said Paul McShane, branch general manager of Onyx, a sister company to Superior. Hall’s wife, Karen, described her husband as someone who loved his work and was highly safety-conscious. Hall worked in engine repair during military service in the Army at Ft. Jackson, S.C., from 1985-89. He returned after his service to rural Sauk Rapids and began a career in trucking. Karen told the Times her husband enjoyed hunting and fishing and was also devoted to the couple’s two boys, five-year-old Dylan and two-year-old Derick. These two boys thought he was God, she said. Funeral services were held Monday at Sacred Heart Catho-lic Church in Sauk Rapids. Besides his wife and children, Hall is also survived by his parents, David and Carol Hall; sister, Lori; brother, Mathew, all of Sauk Rapids; and grandmother, Valeria Hall of St. Joseph.

Worker dies when struck by backhoe; Accident occurs at Cal Poly Pomona construction site

By David Bradvica, Staff Writer

POMONA — A construction worker was killed Thursday morning when he was struck by a backhoe on a project on the Cal Poly Pomona campus, authorities said. The accident occurred shortly after 11 a.m. at the University Union improvement project, where a backhoe operator digging a hole struck an employee of a concrete subcontractor with the claw bucket of his machine, said Susan Gard, spokeswoman for Cal-OSHA, which investigates industrial accidents and other worker safety issues. The worker, identified as 24-year-old Enrique Lopez of Colton, was in full cardiac arrest when Los Angeles County firefighters arrived. Lopez was taken to San Dimas Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12:06 p.m., Los Angeles County Coroner’s spokesman Scott Carrier said. Two other persons, including the co-owner of the concrete company, Fisher Construction, also suffered minor injuries but it wasn’t clear whether they were struck by the bucket or were injured when Lopez was thrown into them, county Fire Capt. Larry Jordan said. Both men were taken to San Dimas Community Hospital for treatment and released, said Cal Poly Pomona spokesman Ron Fremont. The accident caused authorities to shut down work on the $22.4 million campus project for the day and to send investigators from Cal-OSHA and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office to the site to begin an investigation into the accident. That investigation could take as long as four months, Cal-OSHA spokeswoman Gard said. All three people that were injured were standing near the corner of a building when, for some unknown reason, the backhoe operator struck Lopez – and possibly the two other men – with his bucket, Gard said. The backhoe operator is the owner/operator of American Backhoe, Gard said. Cal Poly Pomona spokesman Fremont expressed regret over the accident. “Our hearts and prayers go out the family and friends of Mr. Lopez,” he said. The University Union project will more than double the size of a facility and includes a mall-style food court and 11,000-square-foot fitness center. It is funded entirely by a $135 fee that all Cal Poly Pomona students pay annually. It is scheduled to be completed next fall, Fremont said.

Fork lift fatality

It is reported that a man has died in a fork lift truck accident at United Fish Products in Aberdeen. He has been named as David Cobban, 59. One account given is that he fell from equipment while loading fish meal, sustaining head injuries.

Second day a health hazard

In two separate accidents, two Victorians have been seriously injured on their second day of work. One of the men, a factory hand, lost his right arm when it was caught in the dough machine he was operating. WorkSafe inspectors have since placed a prohibition notice on the dough machine. In the second accident, a new employee at Santini Constructions was hit by a bobcat bearing a one tonne load of crushed rock. WorkSafe Victoria says that a construction wheelbarrow the man was pushing at the time appears to have absorbed the majority of the weight, resulting in “an unbelievably fortunate escape for the worker involved”. However, the man sustained pelvic injuries, broken ribs and suspected head injuries. In the same week, a fruitier was killed when he was hit by a vehicle at Footscray’s Fruit & Veg market. The fatality takes the death toll involving forklifts and stock tug vehicles since 1985 to 47.

Trash truck mishap causes power outage

Published Sunday, December 23, 2001

A city garbage truck raked utility lines with an upraised lifting apparatus as it left a west Columbia grocery store yesterday morning, resulting in a loss of electric power and phone and cable television service for a portion of town. The power outage began about 8:45 a.m. in the neighborhood of Gerbes Supermarket, 1729 W. Broadway, and lasted about an hour and 15 minutes. A manager at the store said the business operated without hindrance after switching to an auxiliary power supply. Columbia police Sgt. Ken Smith said in a prepared statement that the garbage truck left the supermarket lot with its lifting apparatus in an extended position, damaging several overhead lines. The driver realized what had happened and halted the truck at the corner of Ash and Pershing streets. Police said several residences and businesses in the area reported power, telephone and cable television outages.

Man standing in truck hits overhang

posted 12/18/01, By ROBERT ECKHART, STAFF REPORT

SARASOTA — A man standing in the back of a flatbed pickup was seriously injured when his head hit a concrete overhang at the Sarasota Kennel Club on Tuesday morning. Demetrius Lee, 22, was collecting trash cans at the race track, 5400 Old Bradenton Road. Co-worker Antonio Johnson, 21, was driving the truck. Johnson said he was going 5 to 10 mph when he passed under the overhang, which has a clearance of 8 feet, 3 inches. Johnson said Lee was unconscious when paramedics arrived at about 9 a.m. He was in intesive care at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg on Tuesday.

OSHA levies fines in death of worker

From staff reports, Lake City Reporter, December 1, 2001

Lake City paving company Anderson Columbia is facing a $77,000 penalty from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration for the Aug. 7 death of an employee in which the company is accused of failing to provide protection from fall hazards. The company was cited for one alleged willful violation with a $70,000 proposed penalty for failing to provide an adequate seat and seat belt for an employee working in the back of a truck. The additional $7,000 penalty would be for an alleged serious violation for failing to properly secure materials being transported in the same compartment as employees. Anderson Columbia officials did not return repeated phone calls Friday afternoon about the penalty. According to OSHA, the accident occurred when the employee was placing traffic warning signs along U.S. 41 near White Springs, where the company was installing pipelines. The employee reportedly would sit next to remaining signs in the bed of the truck as the driver slowly drove to the next location to place a sign. As the driver approached the final location, he looked in his rear-view mirror and saw his co-worker laying in the road. An OSHA investigation determined that the employee fell from the truck bed as he tried to reach for a sign that was caught by a gust of wind. He died from massive head injuries four days later. “To prevent this type of needless tragedy, OSHA standards require employers to provide employees with adequate seats and seat belts when they are transported in, or work from, vehicles,” said James Borders, Jacksonville area director for OSHA. Borders said Anderson Columbia’s written policy requires employees to ride on the seats provided and use seat belts, but company officials did not enforce the rules. A willful violation is defined as one committed with an intentional disregard of, or plain indifference to, the requirements of OSHA and regulations. A serious violation is defined as one where there is a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result and the employer knew, or should have known, of the hazard. Anderson Columbia has 15 working days to contest the citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Board.

Killed worker’s firm has poor safety record

By Thomas R. Collins, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer, Sunday, December 9, 2001

At 12:30 in the afternoon three weeks ago, Heraclio Cardenas Gil was part of a crew from Ron Kendall Masonry helping to build a new school near Abacoa’s Town Center in Jupiter. At the same time, another worker drove a heavy-duty forklift from the north side to the south side of the building. The forklift ran over Gil, 39, of Fort Pierce, killing him. Police said they were stumped about what could have happened but that it appeared to be an accident. Officials from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating, as they do in every instance of a fatality on a job site. What is established is that Ron Kendall Masonry has had trouble meeting safety standards for years, according to OSHA records. The company, based east of Wellington on Benoist Farms Road, has been written up for 46 violations since 1981 and slapped with $47,995 in fines. During the past three years — the period that, based on court opinions, OSHA considers most relevant — the company has been cited for 13 violations, amounting to $18,190 in fines, records show. Beers Construction, the contractor that hired Kendall, has had no violations in Florida during the past three years, records show. Violations are common in the masonry industry, OSHA officials say. That’s because it’s more prone to inspections since the work involves highly visible temporary structures, such as scaffolding. But even compared with other masonry companies, Kendall’s record is poor. Out of the 20 Florida companies in the masonry industry that OSHA has inspected most recently, Kendall has the worst record during the past three years. One other company has had $17,300 in fines during that period, with $15,800 of that subject to change because they apply to cases that are still open. Another has racked up $13,687 in fines, including $10,650 involved in still-open cases. Most of the other 17 companies have amassed a few hundred or a few thousand dollars in fines, or none at all. Luis Santiago, the head of the southeast regional OSHA office in Fort Lauderdale, said Kendall’s record isn’t distressing because it appears to be “within the range of what happens in the masonry industry.” “The record that we would like to see is a company that we inspect over and over and over and never find anything wrong,” but that isn’t realistic, he said. “I can’t tell you that this is a breakdown in the system,” OSHA compliance officer Mike Heath said. “It may be a breakdown in that we just don’t have enough compliance officers to be everywhere at once. . . . It’s not something where you can get to every construction site.” Gil’s sister-in-law, Esther Cardenas, said his death leaves three children fatherless and a wife without a husband. They are in Mexico, she said. Two messages about Kendall’s safety record left for company managers last week were not returned. Gil isn’t the first Kendall employee to die on the job, according to OSHA records. In 1984, a worker lost his balance on the 13th floor of a building. He grabbed for the top rail of a guardrail, made out of wire rope. But the rail’s support separated from the concrete that was supposed to hold it in place and the man fell to his death. OSHA fined Kendall $240 after an inspection, records show. Most of Kendall’s recent transgressions have involved scaffolding not being erected properly, not being installed under the supervision of a qualified person and not being inspected often enough. Other violations involve workers not wearing helmets in dangerous areas and not guarding protruding steel that poses the risk of impalement. Even though Kendall previously has been cited three times for violating the scaffolding standards, OSHA has never cited Kendall for a “willful” violation, the most serious and costly type of violation. A willful violation is hard to prove, compliance officer Heath said. Santiago, head of the OSHA office, said that although OSHA is aware that some companies might be willing to pay penalties rather than follow the rules, the incentives for complying are great: If a company has a violation, the fine can drop 10 percent for having a safe history and 25 percent for making honest efforts to correct past problems. Plus, he said, there are insurance considerations. Still, there are some companies that just try to “get the job done faster,” Santiago said. “Until employers find that they can save money through safety, they are kind of reluctant to do it.” Staff writer Nirvi Shah contributed to this story.

Man killed when co-worker backs into him with pickup

The Virginian-Pilot, December 4, 2001

NORFOLK — A 58-year-old man died Monday morning after a co-worker at a welding company hit him with a truck, police said. The accident occurred at 6:50 a.m. at Colonial Welding and Fabrication Inc. in the 5800 block of Curlew Drive, said police spokesman Chris Amos. Clyde M. Ives was behind a pickup truck that was being backed up by another employee when he was hit. Ives was taken to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, where he died at 11:30 a.m., Amos said. The accident is under investigation, but Amos said he did not expect any charges to be filed. The driver’s name was not released.

Forklift Operator In Good Condition

times record staff

Tyson Foods employee Sherry Wofford, 48, was in good condition at Sparks Regional Medical Center Thursday after being injured in a forklift accident at Tyson’s Fort Smith plant Wednesday. According to a Fort Smith Fire Department report, Wofford was attempting to adjust a load on a forklift she was operating when she accidentally bumped the controls and became pinned between the lifting mechanism and the cage of the forklift. Wofford was freed by co-workers. The Fire Department initially identified Wofford by a name that turned out to be incorrect, Fire Chief Jerry Tomlin said Thursday.

Macedonia miner being treated for pelvic, back injuries

By Brian DeNeal, American News Service

GALATIA – Tony Diefenbach, 47, Macedonia, continues to undergo treatment for pelvic and back injuries he incurred during a mine accident, an Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Department of Mines and Minerals spokesman has said. The accident occurred after 3 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 27 at the north portal of American Coal Company’s Galatia mine. “Apparently, Mr. Diefenbach was operating a personnel vehicle and another mine worker was operating a water truck,” Tim Sweizer, IDNR spokesman said. “Both backed into an intersection at the same time. The truck struck the operator’s side of the personnel vehicle.” Diefenbach became pinned and sustained pelvis and lower back injuries, Sweizer said. He was treated at Harrisburg Medical Center and transferred to Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis Tuesday evening where he remains in satisfactory condition, according to a hospital spokesman. “He is still undergoing treatment after surgery,” Sweizer said.

Forklift operator injured at manufacturing plant

by Darlene J. Taylor, STAFF WRITER

CLARKSBURG — An employee of Maxxim Medical, located at the Harrison County Industrial Park on Columbia Boulevard, was injured while unloading a forklift Wednesday afternoon. The man, listed in fair condition Wednesday evening at Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, was initially trapped between a forklift and a truck, said Lt. Jim Green of the Clarksburg Fire Department. “He was standing when we arrived,” said Green. HealthNet landed on the front lawn of the business property, known as West Virginia Life Science Center, to fly the patient to Morgantown. Marc Adams of Harrison County Emergency Medical Service said it was standard procedure to call HealthNet for an industrial accident that might include internal injuries. John Cordeau, Maxxim Medical safety officer, said the name of the patient was being withheld pending notification of family. Cordeau also said the man was an experienced forklift operator. “He was unloading a (fork) truck and apparently his sleeve caught the shifter. He never lost consciousness. We are still investigating the accident,” said Cordeau. Also assisting at the scene were Gino Gallo of Clarksburg Fire Department Rescue 214, Brent Hicks of Harrison County EMS, and Mike Phillips and Mike Blake of Clarksburg Fire Department Engine 221.

East El Pasoan dies in apparent industrial accident

Diana Washington Valdez, El Paso Times

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the death of a 26-year-old El Paso man who was killed late Tuesday at his workplace on the East Side, officials said Wednesday. Albert Duran, an employee at Con-Way Southern Express, was crushed when a forklift fell on him, said Mariano Solano, El Paso’s OSHA assistant area director. “We are investigating the circumstances of the death that occurred Tuesday night at the trucking company,” he said. Javier Sambrano, spokesman for the El Paso Police Department, said the death was classified initially as an industrial accident. Sambrano said Duran was discovered by his fiancie, “who went to look for him when she became concerned that he had not come home at night. She found him in the mechanic’s shop under a forklift.” Duran lived in the 100 block of Nonap, in far East El Paso. Police officers from the Pebble Hills Regional Command were dispatched to the company in the 1400 block of Goodyear at 10:37 p.m. Tuesday. “Duran had been working on a forklift. Somehow, the forklift slipped off the hydraulic jack and it crushed him. He died at the scene,” Sambrano said. The county medical examiner’s office scheduled an autopsy Tuesday afternoon to determine the cause of death. Duran had worked as a lead mechanic with the company since August 1999, said Joe DeLuca, Con-Way’s marketing director in Ann Arbor, Mich. He said the company could not comment further while the OSHA investigation was pending. “OSHA will issue an accident report, which will detail what happened,” DeLuca said. Con-Way, which has its headquarters in Fort Worth, operates a motor freight trucking service. The regional motor carrier specializes in next- and second-day service in the El Paso and Juarez region.

Englewood man killed in construction accident at airport

Tuesday, November 27, 2001, Associated Press

SARASOTA – A man working on a construction project at a local airport died Monday when a tar truck backed over him. William Huff, 53, of Englewood, was dragged nearly 25 feet before the driver of the truck was able to stop. Huff, a construction worker for Ajax Paving Industries of Florida near Venice, was working on a runway expansion project at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport. Authorities said Huff may have been guiding the truck along a taxiway at the south end of the runway expansion. The takeoff or landing of an aircraft could have distracted him, said Sarasota County Sheriff Lt. Steve Burns. The killing was accidental and charges would not be filed against the driver, said Burns. The driver’s name was not released. Ajax President Mike Horan did not return a telephone call Monday seeking comment. Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration records show that Ajax was fined $3,500 in 1994 after another employee was crushed to death by a piece of road-widening equipment. Neither the Federal Aviation Administration nor the National Transportation Safety Board was expected to investigate the accident, but OSHA may look into it as a workplace safety issue, Fred Piccolo, the airport’s executive director, told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune for Tuesday editions. Huff was the first person since the late 1980s to die at the airport in an accident not directly related to aviation, according to airport police.

Construction worker killed in bulldozer accident 11/23/01

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) – A construction worker was killed when he became pinned between two bulldozers, police said. Ronnie Paul Nowlin, 26, of Columbia, was clearing some land for Lonnie Trucking and Excavating on Tuesday when a Caterpillar bulldozer became stuck in the mud, police Capt. Mike Martin said. Another Caterpillar unit hitched a cable to the rear of the stuck machine in an effort to free the equipment. Nowlin stepped between the two vehicles to make an adjustment, Martin said, just as the operator of the unstuck vehicle told him not to get between the machines. One of the vehicles rolled back against the other, pinning Nowlin.

Man dies after being pinned by tractor

By Nikki Sattler-The Reporter

HILLSDALE COUNTY – A North Adams man was killed Monday afternoon after being pinned beneath his tractor when it overturned. According to eyewitness accounts, Harold Junior Rapp, 67, of 8960 Hoxie Road was driving a tractor down an incline on his farm at about 3 p.m. Monday when the machine overturned, pinning him beneath it. Rapp’s wife Leonarda was nearby and called 911 and hurried to attempt to free her husband. Neighbor and North Adams firefighter Kevin Grubbs arrived and also tried to assist Rapp. Hillsdale County Sheriff’s Deputies arrived to assist, as did North Adams Fire and Rescue and the Reading Emergency Unit. Despite rescue efforts, Rapp was pronounced dead at the scene due to severe chest injuries sustained in the accident. Due to eyewitness testimony and medical reports, the incident was ruled an accident and the investigation was closed. Funeral arrangements for Rapp are being made through the VanHorn Eagle Funeral Home.

Mine accident claims worker

CADIZ – A Freeport man died Friday after a mining accident late Thursday at AEP Ohio Coal Co. at Cadiz. Albert William Wright III, 29, formerly of Cadiz, was declared dead while still in the mine from injuries he sustained when he was struck by a mine car, said Dr. Ajit S. Modi, Harrison County coroner. Modi said Wright was taken to Harrison Community Hospital at Cadiz. Tom Ayres, media relations spokesman with AEP at Columbus, said the accident happened about 11:37 p.m. Thursday. The mine, which formerly was owned by Harrison Mining Co., a subsidiary of Quaker Coal, was acquired by AEP during Quaker Coal bankruptcy proceedings, Ayres said. We’ve operated only since Nov. 1, Ayres said. Ayres said he thinks this is the first fatality in the mine, which opened in 1990. He said he did not have any specific information on the accident, which is under investigation by the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration and Ohio Division of Mines. Wright had worked for the mine for 11 months, Ayres said. Our hearts go out to the family, he said.

Man killed in lumber accident

Oct 18 2001 12:00AM By THERESA HART — Staff An accident involving two employees at a local lumber company left one man dead Friday. Ronald Owen Bearrington, 38, of Bland County died Oct. 12 after being run over by a forklift operated by Eric Wimmer of Bland County, according to Sheriff Melvin Cox. Wimmer saw Bearrington walking toward him, Cox said, and then he felt a bump. No one knows what happened, he said, “It was just a freak accident that’s all it was,” he said. The incident happened at approximately 7:03 a.m. at the Big Walker Lumber Co. on Virginia 606 in the Hollybrook section of the county, the sheriff said. Deputy Kermit DeHart worked the case, which is now being investigated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Cox noted. No criminal charges were filed in the case, the sheriff said.

Fuel trucks collide at airport

Thursday, October 18, 2001

Up to 5,000 litres of jet fuel spills after vehicle hits parked tanker. A tanker truck carrying jet fuel collided with another tanker parked at the Ottawa airport last night, spilling thousands of litres onto the ground and into ditches. At about 7:30 p.m., the driver of a tanker at PLH Aviation Services depot accidentally struck a parked tanker. A nozzle on the moving vehicle was damaged, causing some of its contents to be spilled. “There was no way of shutting it off,” said Ottawa Fire Platoon Chief Stuart Dunning. Airport spokesman Laurent Benont said that although the capacity of both vehicles added up to about 13,000 litres, officials have measured what remained in the fuel tankers and concluded that only between 2,000 and 5,000 litres were spilled. “There was still a lot of product left in the tanks,” Mr. Benont said. Mr. Benont said the fuel has been contained well within the airport property and was being pumped into holding tanks late last night. Officials are investigating what caused the collision of the two tankers.

Although aviation fuel is considered volatile and potentially explosive, there was no fire at the scene. However, a full assessment of the environmental impact of the spill won’t begin until today. “There shouldn’t be any damage,” said Mr. Benont, noting that emergency crews were on the scene quickly and were confident the leaked fuel would not reach any water sources. “They’re still emptying the tanks,” said Chief Dunning last night. “The fuel has been contained in the system, in the ditch.” There was no risk of the fuel entering sewers or the water supply, he said. He added that the remaining fuel in the tanks would have to be emptied before the vehicles were pulled apart, in case of sparks. The PLH site is located on Leckie Street near the corner of Miller Street. The company is one of several private firms supplying jet fuel to commercial airlines at the airport.

Chemical leak spurs evacuation

BY JIM BISSETT, Ron Rittenhouse/The Dominion Post

Monongalia County’s Hazardous Incident Response Team was called to Mylan Laboratories’ research facility Friday morning to contain a spill from a leaking chemical drum. A Star City volunteer firefighter uses a hose to wash chemical residue off one of the response workers after the spill was contained. Mylan Laboratories’ research and development division on Collins Ferry Road was temporarily evacuated Friday morning, as hazardous materials workers cleaned a spill from a leaking chemical drum in the loading dock area of the facility. Morgantown Fire Capt. David Bean, who also heads the county’s Hazardous Incident Response Team, said a forklift pierced the bottom of a 55-gallon drum containing Trimethoxysaline, a bonding solution used in the finishing of stainless steel and surgical implants. In its raw form, the chemical is caustic and corrosive, Bean said, and gives off a pungent, ammonia-smelling odor. It’s also highly flammable and could be explosive, said Dan Langdon, a Mylan environmental health and safety technician. “That’s why we called the hazardous materials team,” Langdon said. Workers were moving pallets of the chemical in the back of a truck to gain access to the shipment slated for the facility. “They had to move the stuff around to get what they needed to get,” Bean said. “The bottom of the one barrel got clipped and the leak started.” Workers weren’t sure of the nature of the chemical, Bean said, so two of his team members were outfitted in “Level A” hazardous materials suits to clean the spill. The spilled chemical was hosed from the lot and contained in a barrel. The leaking drum was encased in a larger barrel to stop the leakage. It took the team a little more than an hour to do a full cleanup of the area, Bean said. A volunteer fire company from Star City also assisted. A light drizzle helped dilute the chemical, Bean said. The facility is situated on a bluff above the Monongahela River, but Bean said there no danger of the chemical leaking into the river because his team got there 10 minutes after the call was made. “As a worst-case scenario, it could have gone into the river,” Bean said, “but it was a small leak.”

Air Force sergeant first reported death in military operation

The Associated Press

MacDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. – An Air Force sergeant was killed in a heavy equipment accident in the Arabian Peninsula, becoming the first announced death in Operation Enduring Freedom, military officials said Thursday.

Master Sgt. Evander Earl Andrews, who died Wednesday, was assigned to the 366th Civil Engineer Squadron at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho. He was originally from Solon, Maine, the base said.  Maj. Eldon Hardwick from the Air National Guard headquarters in Augusta, Maine, said the accident occurred in Aludeid, Qatar. Hardwick said the accident was considered non-hostile and involved a forklift.  A woman who answered the telephone Thursday morning at the Andrews home in Mountain Home said Andrews’ wife, Judy, was not saying anything but would be meeting with her minister and might have something to say later. The woman did not identify herself.  In addition to Andrews, a soldier was seriously injured Wednesday in Turkey after being trapped between two trucks, military officials said.  Officials did not disclose the soldier’s name, the extent of his injuries or the exact location of the accident.  He was airlifted to the military hospital in Germany.  “U.S. medical personnel on the scene performed initial lifesaving care,” after which the soldier was taken to a U.S. base in Incirlik, Turkey, said Maj. Brad Lowell, a U.S. Central Command spokesman at MacDill. The soldier was in serious but stable condition Thursday at the U.S. military’s Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, officials said.

Fuel tank overturns at airport

A fuel tank overturned on the tarmac of McCarran International Airport Sunday night, injuring one and causing the temporary closure of four aircraft boarding hubs. Given the climate of Sunday’s U.S. military airstrikes in Afghanistan and the fear of terrorism across the nation, the accident may have caused some initial alarm amongst public safety officials. But in the end, the event proved to be the overturning of a fuel tank truck used to refuel ground vehicles. Clark County Fire Department spokesman Steve La-Sky said the driver, whose name was not immediately available, lost control of the Swiss Port vehicle at 5:41 p.m. near the airport’s C Gate. A large amount of unleaded fuel from the vehicle’s 2,000-gallon tank spilled, prompting the Fire Department’s hazardous materials experts to respond to the scene. By 8:30 p.m., much of the mess had been remediated. La-Sky said aircraft hubs C12 through C16 were temporarily closed, and the Southwest Airlines flights that use that part of the airport were not delayed.

Man killed at gravel pit was owner’s son

10/07/01, Jason Bergreen

Cache County Sheriff’s investigators have determined that the 53-year-old Logan man killed at the Wellsville gravel pit Friday night was the pit owner’s son. Michael John Leatham was accidentally crushed to death by a top loader when the driver failed to notice him near the vehicle. The accident occurred about 7 p.m. Friday. According to Sheriff’s Lt. Kim Cheshire, Leatham and a friend, 20-year-old Renaldo Velasquez were at the pit getting sand. Leatham was building a place for horses (at his house) and he wanted some sand, so he went over to get it that night and thought he could just get it himself, Cheshire said. Neither of the men were experienced top loader operators and were nervous about using the vehicle, Cheshire said. Cheshire said both men jumped on the top loader and started the vehicle. Renaldo was so concerned about operating it that he said ‘well you better jump down,’ and so Mike jumped down, Cheshire said. Leatham moved and Velasquez didn’t see that he moved and that’s when he ran over him. The top loader that crushed Leatham reportedly weighed between 59,000 and 89,000 pounds and had 6-foot tall tires. Velasquez was take to Logan Regional Medical Hospital after the accident Friday and treated for shock. He was interviewed at the hospital by investigators. According to Cheshire, Velasquez had no trace of alcohol or drugs in his body. No criminal charges are being considered at this time, he said. Leatham’s body was transported to the state medical examiner’s office in Salt Lake, Cheshire said. An autopsy will be performed to determine the official cause of death.

Construction worker killed in interchange project

By Molly Villamana October 04, 2001

A construction worker with Shirley Contracting was killed early Wednesday, Oct. 3, when he was hit in the head by a bucket loader. His death was caused by massive head injuries. The accident occurred between 7 and 7:30 a.m., shortly after the man started his shift. “The team [of two] was working together in tandem, he went in front of the bucket loader, placing some sort of chain on it. Either the equipment lurched a little, or whatever happened, the bucket hit him in the head,” said Steve Titunik, communications director for the interchange project. The man, whose name is being withheld until his next of kin is notified, was working on phase four of the project, on the west side of Interstate-95. He and his partner were installing piers to elevate the inner and outer loops of the Beltway to cross I-95. They were working in between the loops. Fire and rescue department officials, an ambulance and state police responded to the scene. A medical examiner also responded. OSHA is completing a full investigation. This is the first fatality of a construction worker since the interchange project began in March 1999.

Farm worker killed by tractor

By Angela Trinh, Record Staff Writer

A Stockton farm worker was killed Wednesday when his tractor flipped over, rolled down the bank of a ditch and landed on top of him, the California Highway Patrol reported. Jorge Robles, 19, was pronounced dead at the bottom of the dry, 7-foot-deep irrigation channel on Conrad Silva Farms near Holt and Jacobs roads, west of Rough & Ready Island. His uncle, Francisco Fonseca, said Robles and his brother came north from Jalisco, Mexico, in March to earn money to send home to their family. Robles’ tractor slipped down the bank and rolled over while he was spraying herbicide on wild berry vines, according to sheriff’s spokeswoman Nelida Stone. A crane was needed to lift the tractor off him, she said. Fonseca discovered the wreck when he went looking for his overdue nephew, CHP Officer Frank Martinez said. The ditch bisected an open field, and there apparently were no witnesses, Martinez said. “Everybody’s really shocked,” ranch manager Kurt Sharp said Wednesday. This was Robles’ first farm job in the United States, Fonseca said, but Robles previously had operated a tractor on a farm in Mexico. Before moving to Stockton, Robles worked as a gardener in Brentwood, where his cousins live. He came to Stockton for the higher wages he could earn doing farm work and had planned to go back home to Jalisco in December with his uncle if he earned enough money, Fonseca said.

Construction vehicle smashes into downtown Foley’s

By MIKE GLENN, Houston Chronicle

A large construction vehicle used to pour concrete toppled into the downtown Houston Foley’s department store today. The accident occurred shortly before 10:30 a.m. at the intersection of Lamar and Main streets. There were no injuries, officials said. The vehicle, weighing about 150,000 pounds, was pumping concrete for the construction of a new office building at 1000 Main. Although the truck’s outriggers had been extended to provide stability, it flipped over after the crane-like arm was extended to pour the concrete. “The huge arm apparently got overbalanced and fell into the street and lifted the pumping truck,” said Houston Fire Department spokesman Jay Evans. The falling boom struck two vehicles, crushing one of them, as it collapsed onto Lamar. There were between 50 and 60 retail employees inside when the truck flipped on its side and slammed into the Foley’s department store. Employees and customers were immediately evacuated said Ed Smith, a Foley’s vice president who was watching the recovery effort. While there were no injuries, one Foley’s employee needed oxygen because of the clouds of dust. “The EMS people were here really quickly. She was coughing and one of the EMS guys had an oxygen tank,” Smith said, Employees were sent home after the accident and Foley’s officials said the downtown store will be closed at least until today.  Smith said their engineers would not be able to determine the full extent of the damage until after the wrecked truck is hauled away. “They can’t do anything until all this is removed,” Smith said. Houston police will investigate the accident, Evans said.

Local man dies in industrial accident

A 49-year old construction worker was crushed to death last Wednesday, when a piece of heavy equipment rolled down a slope on top of him. Scott Willard, of Willard, was working with a local excavation firm in the east bench area of North Salt Lake. According to Police Detective John Herndon, the weight of the road compactor he was operating caused the loose dirt to give way, resulting in the machine tipping over a steep embankment. Herndon said the man jumped downhill from the compactor, but was caught under the rolling machine as he landed. He was pronounced dead at the scene from internal injuries.

Asphalt grinder injures worker

Ohio man’s foot caught under machine; he’s in stable condition.

Wednesday, September 26, 2001, By AMALIE NASH, NEWS STAFF REPORTER

An 18-year-old Ohio resident was nearly crushed to death by a pavement grinder he was operating on a Pittsfield Township street Tuesday afternoon, police said. Kourtney B. Gleckler, who works for Ten Mile Excavating Co. in Adrian, suffered a broken ankle, pelvis and elbow when he got caught under the machine. He was listed in stable condition at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital. The crew, contracted by the Washtenaw County Road Commission, was working on Oakdale Road near Central Boulevard when the accident occurred at 11:24 a.m. Tuesday. The road was sealed off for several hours. Lt. Donald O’Farrell said accident investigators are still trying to determine what caused Gleckler’s foot to become caught under one of the tracks that move the machine. The machine is used to peel up asphalt and then crush it before it is taken out in dump trucks, O’Farrell said. Gleckler and another man were working on the sides of the 6,900-pound machine while another worker controlled it from inside, O’Farrell said. Officials from the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Act also are investigating.

Woman working in field killed by truck

Sep 26 2001 12:00AM By KATHRYN GILLICK

Register-Pajaronian staff writer A Watsonville woman was killed in a raspberry field when a truck ran over her Sunday morning. The California Highway Patrol is investigating the accident. Jose Rusario Ruiz Suarez was driving the 2001 Isuzu flatbed, which was carrying crates of raspberries, when he allegedly hit the woman. CHP Public Information Officer Heath Scribner said the victim, 48-year-old Maria Nieves, of Watsonville, was working in the field, possibly loading the raspberry crates onto the truck. Nieves walked away from the truck and Suarez began backing it up. Suarez could not see out the back window because of the raspberry crates, but says he was going less than 10 miles an hour. Scribner assumes it was not the initial impact that killed Nieves but the weight of the truck. The accident occurred in a field owned by Braycovich Ranch and maintained by J.E. Farms. The field is located at 118 Holohan Road in Watsonville. Nieves was being loaded into an ambulance when CHP Officer Bruce Adair and two other officers arrived on the scene around 9:30 a.m. She was taken to Watsonville Community Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The Santa Cruz County Coroner will autopsy Nieves’ body today. Adair said it is too early in the investigation to say whether charges will be brought against 30-year-old Suarez. Scribner estimates it will take at least two weeks to fully inspect the truck and talk to witnesses.

UPDATE, Widow of worker killed on film set sues Columbia Pictures

ASSOCIATED PRESS, September 20, 2001

LOS ANGELES – The wife of a crew worker who was killed on the set of the upcoming “Spider Man” movie sued Columbia Pictures. The wrongful death suit filed Wednesday in Superior Court seeks unspecified damages. A call made to Columbia Pictures, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, wasn’t immediately returned early Thursday. Tim Holcombe, 45, of Monrovia died March 6 while welding sets for the film when a forklift he had been operating toppled onto a construction basket in which he was riding, investigators said. Another worker in the basket was not seriously injured. Also named in the suit is equipment maker Ingersoll-Rand. Representatives from that company couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday. The lawsuit is the second setback for Sony this week. Company executives decided to pull a “Spider Man” trailer from theaters and the Internet because of last Tuesday’s terrorist attacks on the East Coast. The trailer contains a scene in which a helicopter carrying fleeing robbers gets trapped in a giant spider web strung between the World Trade Center towers. The giant structures collapsed when a pair of planes slammed into them last week. Columbia Pictures was previously fined nearly $59,000 for workplace violations stemming from Holcombe’s death. “Spider-Man,” based on the Marvel Comics hero, is scheduled to open in May and will star Tobey Maguire, Willem Dafoe and Kirsten Dunst

UPDATE, Firm fined for violating safety laws in Bellevue fatality: Labor Department report says workers did not warn victim of hazard

2001-09-16, by Nick Perry, Journal Reporter

BELLEVUE — Authorities found a road improvement company committed “serious violations” after a worker was killed on a Bellevue street in March. Scott W. Fredericks was crushed between an asphalt grinder and a dump truck as he and other crew members from Lacey-based P.R. Systems prepared the 1100 block of 112th Avenue Northeast for repaving. An investigation by the Department of Labor and Industries has found nobody from P.R. Systems told Fredericks the vehicles were changing direction to avoid a water valve. Fredericks died when the grinding machine drove into the trailer of the truck, the investigation found. Revival attempts by a Kirkland doctor who passed the accident on his way to nearby Overlake Hospital Medical Center proved futile. Fredericks’ job was to watch a guide at the rear of the asphalt machine to measure the depth of the grind. According to the department’s report, he was walking between the two machines at the time of the March 21 accident. The department has fined P.R. Systems $900 for failing to tell Fredericks the equipment was changing direction, failing to address the hazards with changing direction and failing to address the hazards of having employees work between machines. P.R. Systems also failed to document pre-job safety meetings, the department said. The breaches were in violation of state industrial health and safety laws, the report found. Fredericks’ upset wife declined to talk about the accident, and did not say if she is considering legal action. P.R. Systems President Steve Yates said this week that the accident has been “very hard” for the small company, which employs between 12 and 15 people. “Scott is very much missed. He was a great employee and a good father,” Yates said. But Yates was not prepared to talk about the company’s safety procedures, the department’s investigation or any contact between the company and Fredericks’ wife. Internal operations are “not something I feel comfortable commenting on,” Yates said. Bellevue police earlier concluded no foul play was involved in the death.

Gulf Island worker dies in pipe mishap

By DEE DEE THURSTON, The Courier, September 14, 2001

A Dulac man was killed Thursday afternoon after he was crushed between two large metal pipes at the oilfield-construction company where he worked, officials said. Dewayne Mitch, 25, was one of several Gulf Island Fabrications employees moving a load of large metal oilfield pipes at the facility’s Thompson Road yard at 2:30 p.m., according to police. A forklift operator was reportedly removing one of the 45-inch metal pipes from a rack when it appeared that a second pipe was beginning to slip. “The pipe was starting to roll and he was going to try to stop it with a wooden board, but it was rolling too fast and he was crushed,” one official said. Mitch was rushed from the scene with what police said were severe head injuries, but he was pronounced dead upon arrival at Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center. A Thursday night autopsy conducted by the Terrebonne Parish Coroner’s Office revealed that Mitch’s cause of death was severe head trauma. Mitch went to work for the Terrebonne Parish company three weeks ago. Efforts to reach Kerry Chauvin, Gulf Island Fabrications’ chairman and chief executive officer, were unsuccessful this morning. Mitch is survived by his wife, Sharale Parfait Mitch; a son, Darian Mitch; his parents, Billie Gilmore Mitch and Margaret Billiot Mitch; three brothers, Darrell, Steven and Darren Mitch; and a grandfather, Antoine Billiot.

WMass man killed in accident

Tuesday, September 11, 2001

BRATTLEBORO, Vt. – Police have identified the garbage collector killed Friday evening after being crushed between his truck and a telephone pole as a former Springfield, Mass., man. Ronnie L. Dixon, 47, who recently moved from Springfield to New Hampshire, was pronounced dead at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital shortly after the incident. His death does not appear to have been the result of foul play. “It appears to have been an accident. An honest accident,” Brattleboro Police Officer Kurt Wagenbach said. Police believe Dixon was standing on the back, passenger side of the truck – his standard position to collect garbage cans, dump them and return them to the street – when he was caught between the truck and the telephone pole around 3:30 p.m. Friday, Wagenbach said. Meadow Brook Road, the street where the accident occurred, is narrow, Wagenbach said. “It’s a typical old-time Vermont road,” he said. Dixon is an employee of the Keene, N.H.,-based Waste Management of New Hampshire, which collects trash regularly in the Brattleboro area. Dixon had recently moved to the Swanzey, N.H., area from Massachusetts, police said. The Brattleboro Police Department Major Accident Investigation Team is investigating.

Truck Crushes Worker To Death

Police are investigating after a 21-year-old roofer was crushed to death between a dump truck and a Detroit house. The man was killed Wednesday night as some men were doing roof work to a home on Mansfield Street. Four men were reportedly on the roof while the 21-year-old man was in the driveway cleaning up. Police said that someone moved cement blocks that were supposed to keep the dump truck from moving. The truck rolled forward and instantly crushed the worker to death. Police said that so far it appears to be an accident, but they are questioning the other roofers. They said that they have many unanswered questions.

One Dies At Intel Plant

One man died from injuries suffered in a construction site accident late Wednesday at the Intel Corp. plant, police said. Matthew Dees, a 26-year-old construction worker from Phoenix, was the lone person on a forklift that was involved in an accident, Rio Rancho Department of Public Safety spokesman John Francis said. The incident was under investigation, he said. The construction site was closed until Tuesday, and grief counseling was scheduled to be made available for employees.

Greenwood mill worker’s death under investigation

The Associated Press

GREENWOOD – Officials at a cottonseed oil mill are awaiting the results of an autopsy that could show what caused the death of a worker. David Pugh, 50, a 16-year employee, collapsed at PYCO oil mill Tuesday and died at Greenwood Leflore Hospital. Investigators are looking into the possible causes, including electrocution and a heart attack. Officials said Pugh collapsed while moving an empty hopper at the mill. “We really don’t know much right now,” Billy Breedlove, manager of PYCO, said Wednesday. “We haven’t determined if it was an accident or if he died of a heart attack. We’re waiting on some facts.” Leflore County Coroner Debra Sanders said investigators are looking into the possibility that Pugh was electrocuted. Sanders said Pugh and an unidentified co-worker were moving the seed hopper with a forklift before Pugh’s collapse. The co-worker reported receiving an electrical shock to Pugh, said Sanders. “When the other employee went to cut the electricity off, that’s when he found (Pugh) unresponsive,” said Sanders. Breedlove said company officials are looking into the possibility of an electrical accident. “We’re going to make sure there are not any electrical issues. That site is pretty much off limits now until we get our investigation completed,” Breedlove said.

Trucker killed at old Rachel Mine

RACHEL, By Bill Byrd

James Triplett run over after leaping from giant dump truck. A 51-year-old truck driver was killed Wednesday afternoon when he apparently tried to leap to safety from a giant runaway dump truck on a mine reclamation site. James Triplett, of Little Indian Creek Road, Morgantown, was declared dead by a county coroner. Triplett was working at the old Rachel Mine on Mod’s Run Road. The 40-ton to 50-ton truck, whose tires stand at least 6 feet tall, rolled over Triplett shortly before 3 p.m., authorities said. He was going down a hill road when the truck apparently stalled, Marion Sheriff Junior Slaughter said. But the huge off-road machine didn’t stop. Instead, it kept rolling, going over the hillside, he said. That’s when Triplett jumped from the truck’s cab, the sheriff said. He apparently jumped out of the truck and the truck ran over him. During its downhill slide, the large truck did not tip over. Instead, it came to an upright stop at the bottom of the hill, volunteer firefighters with the Farmington VFD said. The firefighters and a Marion County Rescue Squad ambulance were sent to the scene shortly after 3 p.m., according to the county’s 911 emergency center. Federal and state mine safety experts were at the old mine site Wednesday night examining the truck and interviewing witnesses. Triplett was driving for Triplett Brothers Excavating of Morgantown. The company has been working at the site since 1993 and the opening of the 80-megawatt Grant Town Power Station. The state-of-the-art power plant burns waste coal. American Bituminous Power Partners, L.P., or Ambit, owns the plant. Rachel is one of three county sites where the limited partnership has federal and state surface mine permits to collect gob coal and to reclaim old mine sites. The other two old mines are in Grant Town and Barrackville. Herb Thompson, the power plant’s manager, said late Wednesday, Our sympathy certainly goes out to the Triplett family. We’ll be working to provide any and all assistance to the state and federal authorities so they can get a full investigation, Thompson said. Triplett Brothers was a subcontractor to Enersystems Inc., he said. Mike Jones, the general manager for Enersystems Inc., the firm which holds the services contract for the plant, said Triplett Brothers was moving and grading dirt at the Rachel site. They are doing reclamation, putting dirt on the site so it can be vegetated. They’ve been there ever since 1993 and the plant’s startup, Jones said. We really don’t know what happened yet. The investigation is ongoing by the federal and state experts and we’ll have to wait to see what they report.

Industrial accident claims one
BLUEFIELD, Va. – A Tazewell, Va., man died Wednesday as a result of injuries he received on the job at an area welding supply company.  James Curtis Deskins, 26, died at 8:59 a.m., Wednesday morning after being transported to Bluefield Regional Medical Center by the Bluefield, Va., Rescue Squad. Deskins worked at Valley Natural Gases, Inc., in the Bluefield, Va., Industrial Park. He was injured at 7:54 a.m., when his head was pinned between a truck and boom he was operating.  “The boom squeezed his head against the truck causing severe head trauma,” Trooper D.R. Riley of the Virginia State Police said.  Riley contacted officials with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and worked with them at the scene. “They’re going to take the investigation over from here,” he said.  Another worker was in the vicinity of where Deskins was working, but did not report witnessing the beginning of the accident. Riley said the other worker heard a sound, and discovered the accident.  Riley said Deskins had been working in Bluefield since February.

OSHA to probe construction death in Gardnerville

By Sandi Wright, Reno Gazette-Journal, Friday August 31st, 2001

An investigation into the death of a 39-year-old Redwood City man killed in a forklift accident at a Gardnerville construction site Tuesday has been turned over to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.  Raymond Eric Bauer was hired through Labor Ready in Sparks, a temporary employee agency, to work for M.C. Neuffer Co., according to Capt. Terry Taylor of the East Fork Fire and Paramedic District.  Officials at M.C. Neuffer could not be reached and Labor Ready personnel declined to comment.  Bauer listed no doctor, no permanent address in Nevada and no next of kin, Taylor said.  The EFFPD responded to a call at the Job’s Peak Ranch Estates construction site in southwest Carson Valley shortly before 10 a.m. Tuesday. Bystanders already were performing CPR on the victim, Taylor said.  According to witnesses, Bauer was operating a forklift that was equipped with an aerial bucket at the end of a boom while negotiating an incline.  “Riding the boom can put you in a bad place where your center of gravity is concerned,” Taylor said. “Those things are designed to hold two flats of Sheetrock, and they’re bouncy without the weight.”  Witnesses said Bauer tried to jump when the forklift started to topple over but he was held in the bucket by a harness. The railing of the aerial bucket slammed into his head when he hit the ground.  Bauer was pronounced dead at the scene by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department coroner. Cause of death was blunt force trauma.  Because hydraulic fluid was leaking, the Ranchos Volunteer Fire Department also responded to the scene to do a hazardous materials cleanup, Taylor said.

Man killed in paving crash; Another man is in critical condition after the collision on K-96 near South Hutchinson.

By Alex Branch, The Wichita Eagle

One man was killed and another was critically injured Tuesday in a collision between highway paving trucks just west of South Hutchinson.  The man killed was identified as Ramon Mendoza, 37, of Wichita. Carl Phillips of Reno County was airlifted to Via Christi Regional Medical Center-St. Francis Campus where he remained in critical condition.  Both men are employed by Wichita-based Wittwer Paving and were working on the K-96 bypass two miles west of South Hutchinson.  The bypass is not yet open to traffic.  Reno County authorities said it appears Phillips was driving a boom truck southbound at about 10:15 a.m. when he struck a 65,000-pound piece of equipment parked on the shoulder.  The impact caused him to sideswipe a northbound paving truck driven by Mendoza, said Sgt. Wayne Baughman of the Reno County Sheriff’s Department.  Mendoza was ejected from his truck. Phillips was pinned in the wreckage.  Emergency workers used the Jaws of Life to free Phillips. A third worker who was near the accident suffered minor injuries.  A company spokesman said employees are in deep shock.   “We have a real sense of family among employees and this really wounds deep,” said Ron Mahl, division manager for internal operations.  The company declined to comment on the specifics of the accident while it is still being investigated.  Authorities are trying to determine what caused the crash, Baughman said. The Kansas Highway Patrol is assisting in the investigation.

Co-owner of Byrd Lumber killed in accident

Published Tuesday, August 28, 2001 1:56 PM CDT

A 63-year-old man was crushed to death in an accident early this morning at Byrd Lumber Co. on Highway 51 North of Magnolia.  James W. Byrd, 63, of McCall Creek, got pinned between two pieces of machinery, and workers were unable to turn the machinery off before his head and arm were crushed, according to Pike County Coroner Percy Pittman.  Pittman said he was called at 7:30 this morning to the scene and pronounced Byrd dead at 7:45 a.m.  Pittman sent the body to Jackson where a routine autopsy will be performed.  Brookhaven Funeral Home will be in charge of arrangements.  Mr. Byrd is one of the owners of the business.

Firefighter in critical condition

From AAP, 24aug01

A FIREFIGHTER was in a critical condition in hospital after being injured in a blaze at the Port of Brisbane, police said.  A spokeswoman said the fire started around 8pm (AEST) last night when a forklift at Smith Brothers, a shipping container park at Fisherman Island, caught fire.  A preliminary investigation has revealed that a hydraulic line might have separated, spraying fluid on the engine which then ignited.  Queensland Fire and Rescue Authority officers were fighting the fire when a tyre exploded and shrapnel from the metal tyre rim hit the 41-year-old firefighter.  He was rushed to the Princess Alexandra Hospital in a critical condition with head and leg injuries.  The forklift driver also received hip, leg and back injuries after jumping from the vehicle.  Another fire officer was treated for smoke inhalation.  The fire was extinguished around 10.30pm (AEST).  Police, fire authority and workplace and health safety officers were investigating the cause of the fire.

Worker crushed to death
Federal officials are investigating why a 5,000-pound sheet of metal fell on the plant manager at New York Depot Corp., killing him Aug.9.  Police said that Jose Carlos Forte, 32, of Rosedale was on the ground directing the movement of a steel plate attached by chain to an excavator at the plant in Inwood that recycles soil.  Witnesses said the chain either snapped or slipped off, causing the 8-by-20 foot roadway plate to drop on Forte’s head at about 9:15 a.m.  “As they were lifting it up, the chain wasn’t secured properly, so it fell down and crushed him,” said Det. Sgt. William Cocks of the Nassau County Homicide Squad. “It’s a tragedy.”  The employee operating the machine was able to get the plate off Forte, and Mike Grottola, who was hired last week to complete on-site crushing of cement, ran up the dirt mound to perform CPR on Carlos, as Forte was known.  “He had no vital signs. I didn’t feel a pulse, so I gave him light CPR and he started breathing again,” Grottola said.  He said he poured ice on Forte’s chest and wrapped a tourniquet around his head to stop the bleeding from the only visible wound. Grottola said Forte was still breathing when he carried him into the ambulance.   No one else was injured, police said.  Forte was rushed to St. John’s Episcopal Hospital in Far Rockaway, where he was pronounced dead at 9:55 a.m. A funeral was held on Monday morning at St. Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale. His family could not be reached for comment.   “He was close to me like my brother,” said New York Depot owner Joseph Aragona. “He’s been a friend for 17 years. Carlos was a construction specialist second to no one. This accident is something I will be trying to figure out for a while.”  Aragona said Forte, who was born in Portugal, is survived by his wife.  “I only met him last week, but he was so nice,” Grottola said. “It was a freak accident for a guy who didn’t deserve it.”  The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is investigating the cause of the accident.  “Typically, these kinds of investigations could take up to six months,” said OSHA area director Harvey Shapiro. “We try to go as slowly as possible, looking for if whatever happened were violations of OSHA.”  If there were violations, OSHA would issue citations against New York Depot, which would probably be accompanied by penalties, Shapiro said.  “I hope that OSHA does a complete investigation into the entire operation of the facility because there are numerous occupational and health hazards on that site,” said Inwood resident Elisa Hinken, a main opponent of the plant.  The site on which New York Depot operates is owned by the state Department of Transportation.The plant has been beset by many problems during the past year. Last July, neighbors took the Depot to court over the environmental concerns about the mountain of dirt on the site at 2 Bay Blvd. They are concerned that dust blowing off the roughly 40 feet high pile of dirt may be noxious. That question has delayed the Town of Hempstead from granting Aragona a permit to operate on the Inwood site.  On Aug. 3, the Department of Environmental Conservation made a surprise inspection, said DEC spokesman Bill Fonda.  “The DEC issued them a warning regarding dust abatement operations for not using a sprinkler system to keep the dust wet,” Fonda said. “If it happens again, the Depot could get a notice of violation and have to pay a fine.” The piles of dirt are also not to exceed 30 feet, but Fonda said the DEC gave the Depot permission to remain at 40 feet while it makes room for a new crusher device that will grind up concrete. After that, the pile heights will have to be in compliance. Fonda added that if the facility is operating without a town building permit, then it is up to the Town of Hempstead to enforce compliance, not the DEC.  Another public hearing before the Board of Zoning Appeals about the dirt mountain has been scheduled for 3 p.m. Sept. 12, at the Town Hall Pavilion on Washington Street in Hempstead.  The Department of Transportation required Aragona to post a $500,000 bond to guarantee that the mountain of dirt will be removed in the event that the recycling company vacates the property.  “My facility has gotten shortchanged over the past seven months,” Aragona said. “I can’t  understand why.”

Worker killed in accident at Amtrak maintenance shop

By TERRI SANGINITI, Staff reporter, 08/16/2001

WILMINGTON – A worker was killed today in an accident at Amtrak’s maintenance shop.  Authorities said the man was trapped under equipment they described as similar to a forklift.  The man’s name was not released. Amtrak officials released no information in the hours immediately after the accident.  New Castle County paramedic spokesman Mark Logemann said the man was in cardiac arrest when rescue workers arrived at 11 a.m. at the company’s maintenance yards on Vandever Avenue.  Co-workers had freed the man, who had been trapped for nearly 20 minutes, Logemann said.  Paramedics tried to resuscitate him. He was flown to Christiana Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Logemann said.

OSHA Fines Lansdale Sports Store Over Worker Death (08/15/01)

by KYW’s Michelle Pollino

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued four citations to a Montgomery County sporting goods store following the death of a store employee.  OSHA has cited The Sports Authority in Lansdale and fined the retailer more than $25,000.  Police say 18-year-old Raymond Campion Jr. died February 18th after he fell backward onto his head while reaching for an 87-pound weight bench on a top shelf.  Tom Doherty is a response team leader with OSHA:  “There are four citiations. One was for not having proper guarding on the floor, the other was for not having personal protective equipment. The next one was, the operator of the forklift was not properly trained.”  The final citation concerned leaving an industrial truck unattended.  Frank Bubb, an attorney for The Sports Authority in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, says the company will appeal OSHA’s findings. He says Campion’s death was the first in the company’s history.

Front-end loader tumbles into Animas

August 14, 2001, By Tom Sluis, Herald Staff Writer

A construction worker trying to make some money on the side ended up on his side Saturday when the small front-end loader he was driving tipped over and landed in the Animas River.  The cost to pull it out: about $1,000, according to Basin Towing and Repair, which was called to extract the Bobcat-style loader from the bottom of a steep hill between Riverview Drive and the east side of the Animas River.  It took a tow truck about two hours to winch the front-end loader out, said Durango Fire & Rescue Authority Fire Officer Larry Vaughn.  Fire & Rescue was called to the scene because the front-end loader was leaking diesel fuel into the river.  “We were called in to control the fuel leak and stopped it within a few minutes after getting there,” he said. The fuel spill was more of an environmental concern than a fire hazard, he said.  The driver declined to comment Monday afternoon. “I’m just lucky to have my job right now,” he said as he helped crews with the loader’s removal.  Higher up, his boss was surveying the scene. He was not happy.  “I got the call about 9:30 this morning,” said Mike Donahue, a paving contractor from Cortez. Donahue said his employee was clearing ground next to the river for a homeowner on Riverview, but he didn’t know which one. “He took the tractor without my permission, and he was inexperienced,” Donahue said.  The tow truck ran a cable the thickness of a thumb between two houses and down the slope to the front-end loader. Neighbors watched the spectacle from back yards.  Mike Clements, a tow-truck driver for Basin, said this particular task was not that out of the ordinary.  “We’ve pulled out everything from semis, cars in lakes and cars with dead people inside,” he said.  Below him, about 200 feet down, the loader lay on its right side in the water just beyond a 4-foot-high embankment. Bark on trees was scraped off where the caged vehicle plummeted through. A small bluish oil slick swirled downstream.  Russell Zimmerman, who regularly walks along the trail where the accident occurred, said the heavy equipment was upside down on the river bank Saturday morning before it rolled into the river.  “It was ridiculous, it was spewing oil and gas all over the place,” Zimmerman said.  Tera Wood, who was walking her dog along the river Monday, said the accident was disgusting. “This is a place where a lot of kids swim and people take their dogs, and you can really smell the fumes,” she said.  A footpath runs from the river bridge behind the fairgrounds and up to the south end of Riverview. The Bobcat’s tracks have flattened waist-high bushes and small trees along half the path.  Greg Hoch, Durango’s planning director, said the trail is on public land. “It’s not officially a public trail yet, but it is recommended as a city trail on the trails plan,” he said.  Hoch said the property lines on Riverview stop just short of the river and that the city owns a small swath of land along both sides of the river.  To complete the trail, the city is negotiating for an easement from the property owner where the trail ends at Riverview.  Hoch said that about six years ago a resident of Riverview cleared the hillside, which is not against the law. Hoch thought the same person may have hired the Bobcat to clear additional land next to the river. Just before the trail cuts up the hillside to Riverview, a patch of ground about 40 feet wide was scraped down to the dirt.  “There is no prohibition preventing someone from clear-cutting their lot if they choose,” Hoch said. “But this kind of thing is what will force someone to have a law passed against it.”

Astaris Employee Killed In Accident
Pocatello – AN ACCIDENT THAT CLAIMED THE LIFE OF AN ASTARIS EMPLOYEE IS STILL UNDER INVESTIGATION.  ASTARIS TELLS US 50 YEAR OLD JERRY SMITH WAS DRIVING A WATER TRUCK AT THE PLANT YESTERDAY AFTERNOON WHEN HE HIT A CONCRETE BARRIER AND ROLLED.SMITH WAS TAKEN BY AMBULANCE TO BANNOCK REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER WERE HE WAS PRONOUNCED DEAD.  IT IS AN ACCIDENT THAT HAS EMPLOYEES AT ASTARIS IN SHOCK TODAY.  ASTARIS HAS COUNCILORS AT THE SITE TODAY FOR ANY EMPLOYEE WHO MAY NEED THEM.

Lift Death In Auckland

By Staff Reporter Leigh Catley at 5:10pm, 24th July 2001

A man was crushed to death by a lift in Auckland today. Occupational Safety and Health are investigating the death at a private house in St Mary’s Bay. (c) NewsRoom 2001

UPDATE, Deerwood man victim of what sheriff Ross calls worst industrial accident

By MATT ERICKSON, Staff Writer

DEERWOOD — Crow Wing County Sheriff Dick Ross called it the worst industrial accident of his tenure as sheriff. A 20-year-old Deerwood man is dead after a 2,500-pound pallet of wood fell on him at Trus Joint MacMillan’s plant in Deerwood Monday. The victim, Andrew Sven Nelson, was a semi-truck driver hauling for Trus Joist MacMillan. Nelson was standing next to his truck while a forklift operator was loading pallets onto the semi-truck trailer. As the fork lift operator attempted to load a pallet, part of the already loaded product fell off the trailer and onto Nelson. Crow Wing County Sheriff Dick Ross said the investigation is almost closed, and there was no indication of foul play. “It was a terrible industrial accident,” Ross said. Ross said Nelson was an independent contractor not directly employed by Trus Joist MacMillan. The forklift operator was an employee of Trus Joist MacMillan. Trus Joist MacMillan, a Weyerhaeuser firm, produces wood products. The accident was reported to the Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Department at 8:03 a.m.

Man dies in industrial accident

DEERWOOD — An area man died today in what authorities are calling an industrial accident at Trus Joist MacMillan in Deerwood. The victim, whose name is being held pending notification of relatives, was a semi-truck driver. He was crushed to death when 2,500 pounds of wood fell off a forklift, Crow Wing County Sheriff Dick Ross said. The forklift operator didn’t see the victim, who was strapping down a load on his truck, Ross added. The incident was reported to the sheriff’s department about 8:30 a.m.

UPDATE, Man who lost foot in job accident given $5.6 million
By Rafael A. Olmeda, Staff Writer, Posted July 20 2001
A Broward County jury awarded $5.6 million on Thursday to a North Miami man who sued a Hollywood company after losing his foot in a job-related accident eight years ago.  Ruddy Smith, 49, was working at a Ramco Trading warehouse in 1993, moving products ready to be shipped to 99-cent stores across the region, said his attorney, Todd Falzone. Smith was about to climb onto a forklift when the machine jolted backward and crushed his left foot.  “The forklift shouldn’t have moved. If the brakes had been properly repaired, it wouldn’t have moved,” Falzone said. “Every bone in his left foot was broken. They tried to save it, but couldn’t. A week later it was amputated.”  Smith sued Nationwide Lift Trucks, the company that worked on the forklift’s brakes the day before the incident. Smith accused the company of faulty work.  But the company never got to defend itself before a jury, Falzone said, because crucial physical evidence was lost and a judge held the company responsible.  The jury that heard the case only decided the amount of compensatory damages, including medical bills, pain and suffering, and lost wages. Falzone said his client did not seek punitive damages.  Smith is “feeling a little better now,” Falzone said. “He feels like justice has been done.”  Lawyers for Nationwide Lift Trucks could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Junius man dies in paving accident

JUNIUS – A local man was killed in a construction accident yesterday while working in the parking lot of Countryside Custard and Yogurt Shop on Route 318. State police from the Waterloo barracks said Roy O. Meyers III, 35, of 1075 Donnelly Road, was operating a small front-end loader, called a skid steer, loading blacktop from a parked 1988 International dump truck around 4:50 p.m. As the dump truck bed was being raised, Meyers tried to stop the overflow by reaching outside the loader’s safety cage to close the dump’s flow gate. He accidentally hit the skid steer’s controls, causing the machine to lunge forward. He was crushed between the skid steer and the dump truck. Seneca County Coroner Hugh Mecum pronounced Meyers dead at the scene. State police are continuing an investigation into the accident. Meyers graduated from Waterloo High School in 1983. “He was a good ol’ boy,” said Jim Lanphear, who worked with Meyers for seven years. “He was a hard worker and a lot of fun to work with.” Peggi Ennis, Meyers’ ex-wife, said he enjoyed riding three-wheelers and snowmobiles with their three daughters. “He was a good father and loved his daughters,” said Ennis. Meyers’ father, Roy Jr., is Junius town supervisor and owns Meyers Construction. Ennis said Meyers was very devoted to his father’s business and was a hard worker. He was also a big fan of NASCAR, particularly driver Jeff Gordon. Another passion of Meyers’ was restoring his 1955 Chevy, which he and Ennis bought in Tennessee almost 10 years ago.

2 tons of bricks kill forklift operator

July 6, 2001

ELGIN — A forklift operator was killed Thursday when 2 tons of bricks fell on him as he worked near the forklift at Brady Brick and Supply, 1470 Abbott Drive, Elgin, police said. The victim, Douglas J. Schuring, 32, of Huntley was taken to Provena St. Joseph Hospital in Elgin and pronounced dead at 10:13 a.m., authorities said. Four pallets of unsecured bricks apparently fell on Schuring as he approached or left the forklift about 9:45 a.m., Elgin Police Lt. Mike Turner said. Schuring had been with another employee, who did not see the accident, Turner said.

Teen killed in forklift incident is identified

By Christina Leonard, The Arizona Republic, July 03, 2001

Authorities identified a 17-year-old boy killed Monday afternoon in a forklift incident as Robert Castaneda. Castaneda was moving supplies in the Therm-All Insulation warehouse, 1901 W. Fillmore St., about 1:20 p.m. when a forklift fell on him, police said. Police said there were no witnesses to the accident, and the details about what caused the forklift to tip remain unclear. The state Occupational Safety & Health Administration is investigating.

UPDATE, State probes accident that took woman’s leg

Thursday, June 21, 2001; By David Viviano, JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Flint – A state agency that regulates workplace safety has launched an investigation into an industrial accident that cost a woman her leg Monday. An inspector with the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration is reviewing the incident at Penske Logistics in which Kristine Lawler of Clio lost her leg. He also will check safety regulations and work conditions at the plant. Lawler’s left leg was hit by a forklift and had to be amputated above the knee. She was listed in fair condition at Hurley Medical Center on Wednesday. “This is a serious work-related accident,” said Maura Campbell, spokeswoman for the state Department of Consumer and Industry Services. “When we hear about something like this, we have to investigate.” Since the plant has been in operation for only about a year, MIOSHA has never reviewed the site. Campbell said no previous injuries or complaints were reported at the plant. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics, 479 workplace-related amputations occurred in Michigan in 1999, compared to 416 in 1998. Campbell said the statistics are misleading. “We’ve seen some pretty horrific accidents in the workplace, but safety awareness is increasing, not decreasing,” she said. Campbell said the safety education and consultation division works with businesses throughout the state. The organization also enforces workplace standards through periodic inspections. Louise Moyer, Penske’s corporate communications manager, said the company is looking into the accident. If the incident was caused by negligence, adjustments will be made, she said. “We’ll do what we can to ensure something like this won’t happen again,” Moyer said. The facility, which employs about 300 workers, is on Maple Avenue east of Linden Road. It is an automotive parts service supplier for the General Motors Truck Plant on Van Slyke Road.

Woman’s leg hurt by forklift

Wednesday, June 20, 2001, By David Viviano -JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Flint – A worker at Penske Logistic was rushed to Hurley Medical Center on Monday after her leg was injured in an accident with a forklift. Kristine Lawler of Clio was listed in serious condition Tuesday morning. A friend of the family said the forklift speared Lawler’s left leg as she was walking down an aisle. He said her leg had to be amputated above the knee. The accident occurred about 3 p.m., according to Penske spokeswoman Louise Moyer, who would not specify what happened and said the accident is under investigation. “We are continually evaluating our safety program and are always looking for ways to improve and make our facility safer,” Moyer said. “I’m certain that if an adjustment needs to be made, we’ll make them.” Moyer said a co-worker used a tourniquet to slow the bleeding. She said emergency personnel credit the employee with saving Lawler’s life. The facility, an automotive parts service supplier for the General Motors Truck Plant, is located at 4405 Continental Drive.

$50,000 fine over death by crushing

Wednesday 20 June 2001

A pest-control company was fined $50,000 yesterday over the death of a truck driver crushed in a forklift accident. Exopest Australia pleaded guilty in Sunshine Magistrates Court to one count of breaching the Victorian Health and Safety Act. The charge followed the death of Rex Hyne, 53, of Altona, who was crushed by crates that fell from a forklift at the company’s Footscray store on January 12, last year. Mr Hyne, who worked for Total Logistics, left a wife, three children and grandchildren. His daughter, Tanya Czelakowski, told reporters outside the court that the fine was not enough. “There’s four directors of the company,” she said. “I think that’s just over $12,000 each. I think that’s quite disgusting. “But it is $50,000, and it does send a strong message to the small companies out there that they have to have a safer work environment.” Magistrate Greg Levine also ordered the company to pay $3548 in costs.

Man pinned between forklift, tractor-trailer dies

HAMILTON – A 19-year-old Georgetown man is dead after being pinned between the forklift he was operating and a tractor-trailer unloading at a Home Hardware store. The man was using the forklift to remove cardboard tubes from a trailer in the store’s shipping and receiving area. When some of the tubes fell off the front of the forklift, the man got off to retrieve them and the forklift apparently moved, police said. ”He was crushed between the towmotor (forklift) and the trailer,” said Halton police Sergeant Larry Brassard. The driver of the tractor trailer was slowly backing into a loading dock at the time, police said. The man was pinned to the side of the trailer. The accident yesterday happened shortly after the store, on Guelph Street near Armstrong Avenue in Georgetown, had opened. The Home Hardware Building Centre is in a commercial and industrial area with its own parking lots at the front and east side of the building, where the loading dock is located. Home Hardware staff called 911 and tried to help the man. He was taken to the Georgetown campus of the William Osler Health Centre, where he was pronounced dead. Police withheld the man’s name until they could notify his immediate family. He was living in Georgetown with relatives. The outlet closed after the accident. A manager said the man was a full-time employee, but wouldn’t say how long he had worked there. Police and the provincial Ministry of Labour are investigating the accident. They’ll determine whether it was operator error or faulty equipment that caused the man’s death. ”They may have to take the towmotor away to see if it was working properly,” Brassard said. A Ministry of Labour study conducted in 1996 found that powered lift trucks including forklifts were involved in 136 critical accidents from 1990 to 1995 in Ontario workplaces, injuring 143 people. Of those, 18 workers died.  Torstar News Service

Pensioner Killed By Forklift Truck

A 70-year-old woman has been killed by a forklift truck in a DIY store in Dorset. The woman was shopping at the B+Q DIY superstore in Poole when the accident happened. The truck, driven by a store employee said to be in his twenties, also collided with a shelving support in the building supplies area of the shop. The driver was sent home in shock after the accident. A B+Q spokeswoman said: “We are not sure whether it was something wrong with the forklift truck or driver error.” The council will begin an investigation into the accident on Monday. The store was closed after the tragedy. The woman has not been named.

Virco employee in electrical incident

By SAMANTHA HUSEAS, Log Cabin Staff Writer

Thursday, June 14, 2001

A Virco Mfg. Corp. employee remained hospitalized Wednesday in fair condition after an electrical shock incident Tuesday night at the Virco Warehouse. David Johnson “received an electrical shock while attempting to charge a forklift battery” according to Glen Parish, Virco vice-president and Conway division general manager. Parish said he did not know a great deal about the incident but said “we’re investigating it right now.” He added everything possible will be done to prevent a similar accident in the future. Johnson was transported to Conway Regional Medical Center following the accident and remains there. According to Conway Fire Department incident reports, firefighters were dispatched to the warehouse at 10:07 a.m. Tuesday.

Man hurt when floor collapses

By Emily Kampschneider/Tribune Staff

A worker at Abe Krasne Home Furnishings had an unusual accident Tuesday. Howard Krasne, president of Abe Krasne Home Furnishings, said Fred Miles, warehouse supervisor, was driving a forklift on a warehouse floor before the floor caved in from under the machine. “The floor gave out and then next thing (Miles) knew he was in the basement,” Krasne said. He said the truck fell about 10 feet, straight down and landed on all four wheels. rasne said Miles was then transported to the hospital and after X-rays and other tests, Miles soon was dismissed. He said Miles only suffered back injuries.

Worker dies as forklift falls down elevator shaft at Jackson Memorial

Staff report , Posted June 8 2001

An employee at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami was crushed to death Thursday night after falling down an elevator shaft, authorities said. The man, who was not identified, was operating a forklift-like device when he ran into the elevator door and fell down the shaft, according to Joe Fernandez of Miami Fire Rescue. The man did not have a long fall, but the machinery also fell down the shaft. Paramedics pronounced him dead on the scene shortly after 9:15 p.m. The Ryder Trauma Center is above the basement where the accident occurred, but patient care was not affected, officials said.  WFOR-Ch. 4 contributed to this report.

Mushroom farm gets safety fine

Injured employee of Pictsweet Farms Forklift accident causes a worker to lose his hand.

MICHAEL ROSE, Statesman Journal, June 1

Pictsweet Mushroom Farms has been fined $7,475 by state regulators for safety violations, including a forklift accident that cost a worker one of his hands. The injured employee, Enrique Diaz Lupian, had to have his hand amputated a week after his arm was crushed. Investigators from the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division say Lupian was caught between a door and a trash bin carried by the forklift. An untrained driver at the Salem plant mistakenly put the vehicle in forward instead of reverse. “I don’t blame anyone,” said Lupian. “I simply ask that the supervisors pay more attention to who they ask to drive a forklift.” Union activists with the Woodburn-based Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United, better known by its Spanish acronym PCUN, held a press conference in Portland Thursday with Lupian and other mushroom farm workers to draw attention to the report from OR-OSHA, as the safety and health division is known. “It further substantiates what workers and we’ve been saying all along,” said Erik Nicholson, a PCUN representative. PCUN has been trying to organize Pictsweet workers into a union. Earlier this year, a small group of Pictsweet mushroom pickers approached PCUN, complaining mainly about pay. Pickers earn a piece rate for harvesting mushrooms. But PCUN officials say workers also had concerns about health and safety conditions, such as insufficient lighting and narrow, hard-to-climb stairs on mushroom beds. The recent accident highlights worries about forklift safety in the tight quarters of the mushroom farm. Don Dresser, a spokesman for Pictsweet’s Tennessee headquarters, said he had not seen the OR-OSHA report and declined comment. State officials say the comprehensive safety inspection of Pictsweet was scheduled before PCUN showed up. OR-OSHA also was checking out an anonymous complaint about the mushroom farm, which PCUN says it had nothing to do with. The accident that cost Lupian his hand came one day after OR-OSHA started an inspection of the plant, state officials said. OR-OSHA investigators found 13 safety violations at the Salem plant, including nine items they categorized as “serious” violations. Steve Corson, spokesman for OR-OSHA, said the penalty levied on Pictsweet was substantial. The company has 20 days to appeal. “Forklifts are potentially dangerous and you really do need training,” Corson said. Over the past six years, forklift accidents have killed at least seven people in Oregon. Two more fatalities that may have been caused by forklifts are under investigation. Last year alone, more than 220 people in Oregon were hurt in accidents involving lift trucks. Among the items OR-OSHA noted in its report on Pictsweet: The company “did not fully assure that only trained workers” were operating lift trucks, and failed to “provide enough supervision over employees.” Corson said OSHA has opened a separate inspection of health conditions at the Pictsweet plant, which may involve a variety of issues such as air quality. Results of that inspection are pending.

Worker Killed in Forklift Accident

Labor: Phone cable installer dies when equipment supporting him overturns and falls down an embankment near Santa Paula.

By TIMOTHY HUGHES, Times Staff Writer

A 28-year-old phone cable installer died Friday when a forklift carrying him overturned and carried him down a steep embankment near Santa Paula. He was the seventh person in the county to die in a work-related accident in the past eight months. Wayne Thompson Hunzicker III of San Dimas was pronounced dead at Ventura County Medical Center shortly after the 10:46 a.m. accident, said James Baroni, a senior deputy coroner. Hunzicker, an employee of Victorville-based STC Wireless Resources, had just finished installing cable on a 45-foot cell phone tower when the accident occurred, said Dean Fryer, a spokesman for Cal/OSHA. Witnesses said Hunzicker was standing on a platform about 35 feet above the forklift. He was wearing a protective harness and was in a metal safety cage, Fryer said. The weight of the forklift was too much for a patch of soft dirt near a steep embankment and the machine tipped over, Fryer said. Hunzicker was still strapped into his harness when emergency crews arrived. An autopsy showed he died of chest and abdominal injuries, officials said. As is standard practice after any fatal work-related accident, Cal/OSHA has opened an investigation, Fryer said. STC Wireless Resources was contracted by tower owner Sprint PCS to make the repair, Sprint spokeswoman Stephanie Walsh said. Officials at STC Wireless declined comment. Hunzicker’s death marks the latest in a string of local fatal work accidents. Prior to Friday, the most recent occurred April 11 when a 79-year-old farm labor contractor was killed after he was run over by a forklift driven by one of his employees at Calleguas Ranch in Camarillo.

Worker’s legs crushed in accident

The Associated Press, 5/4/01 10:37 AM

FAIRPORT, N.Y. (AP) — A 25-year-old man had both his legs crushed when he was trapped in a forklift at a food plant. Michael Covington of Rochester was in guarded condition at Strong Memorial Hospital’s intensive care unit. He suffered a “crushing injury” to his legs Wednesday night, said Fairport Fire Chief Tom Santillo. Covington was operating a “depalletizer” — a sort of automated forklift — to remove stacked pallets of glass bottles, said Fairport police Sgt. James Stefano. About 8:50 p.m. Wednesday, his legs got tangled in the bar that pulls the pallets and he was left dangling 10 feet off the ground, Stefano said. It took emergency crews 30 minutes using several different tools including the Jaws of Life to free Covington.

Worker Killed by Steel Beam

A construction worker was killed in Brooklyn on Monday night when a steel beam slipped off a forklift and crushed him, police said.  Rogelio Villanueva-Daza, 43, of Sunset Park was working for Mordechai Rubbish Inc. at the time of the accident, police said. He and the other crew workers were demolishing an abandoned building at 104 S. Eighth St. in Williamsburg.   Around 6:30 p.m., a worker on the second floor of the building was operating a boom lift when the floor gave out, police said. The front of the lift collapsed and the beam fell onto Villanueva-Daza, who was on the first floor, police said.   Villanueva-Daza was taken to Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center,  where he was pronounced dead on arrival.   No summonses have been issued. Officials at Mordechai Rubbish, reached at their Brooklyn office yesterday, declined to comment.

Follow-up to Thursday’s Forklift Accident news story

Many of you have asked for more details as to how this accident actually happened. From reading other news accounts of this accident, it became very clear to me that the man killed was NOT the driver as I had originally assumed, but rather was a co-worker standing nearby. It appears to have happened when the overloaded forklift began to tip forward, this man grabbed a hold of the back of the forklift trying to add weight to the back-end so that it would come back down. Well it did not work out like he thought. The forklift tipped too far forward and the load slipped off the forks and the man was left hanging on the back of the forklift when it came slamming back down on top of him.

Man killed in forklift accident

By Nina Wu Of The Examiner Staff

A man was killed Tuesday afternoon after falling under a forklift as it lifted a heavy bundle of plywood over the threshold of the construction gate around the Ferry Building along the Embarcadero. The man, Hilary St. John, 56, of South San Francisco, died at the scene paramedics weren’t able to resuscitate him. Both the fire department and emergency response team arrived at 12:45 p.m. Police held a yellow tarp around St. John’s body for more than two hours to shield it from the view of passers-by on their way to work and Gabbiano’s restaurant until paramedics transported it to the Medical Examiner’s office. As friends and co-workers watched in horror, they collected a plaid shirt, wallet, hammer, set of keys and change that had fallen on the concrete near a pool of blood. “As the forklift carrying the wood was rolling over the threshold, it tipped over and he jumped on it to counterbalance,” officer Alan Honnball said. “It bounced back and ended up crushing him.” The accident came during the Port’s $70 million renovation, undertaken in part by the Plant Construction Company, whose sign adorns the 14-foot high enclosure. Port spokeswoman Renee Dunn did not return calls from the Examiner on Tuesday.

OSHA fines Sappi mill $70,500

By JOE RANKIN, Staff Writer, 2001 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

SKOWHEGAN — Sappi Fine Paper’s Somerset Mill was fined $70,500 by a federal regulatory agency Friday following an investigation into an accident last fall that killed a Norridgewock man. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration found nine workplace safety violations in the mill’s finishing room. Five of them were labeled “serious” and one “willful.” The agency levied a $55,000 penalty for the willful violation — failing to require drivers of powered trucks to slow down and sound a horn at cross aisles and spots where vision was obstructed. A willful violation is the most serious category. It means that company managers knew of a safety requirement but ignored it, said OSHA Area Director C. William Freeman III. Gary Kinney, 53, was killed Nov. 15 after being crushed between two propane-powered “clamp trucks” used to move huge rolls of paper around the mill’s finishing area and shipping warehouse. Sappi spokesman Edward J. Powers said Friday the company is “reviewing the citations and will certainly contest the allegation of a willful violation.” Powers said Sappi cooperated with OSHA in the investigation and initiated its own review to ensure the mill implements best practices. “We have in place a safety program for powered industrial trucks that meets or exceeds all applicable OSHA requirements,” Powers said. The company has asked for an informal conference with OSHA to discuss the citations, said Freeman. Kinney, a clamp truck operator, had stopped his machine and was in the process of changing its propane fuel tank when another clamp truck operator backed his truck down an aisle, around a corner and into Kinney’s machine, Skowhegan Deputy Police Chief Rick Bonneau said at the time. Kinney suffered massive injuries to his legs and pelvis, as well as internal injuries in the morning accident. He died later at Redington-Fairview General Hospital. One of the five serious violations directly stemmed from the fatal accident: Sappi was fined $7,000 because the driver of the propane-powered truck that struck Kinney failed to “look in the direction of travel and keep a clear view of the path of travel.” Other serious violations were: Locating propane cylinders outside the propane changing station unprotected from industrial truck traffic and failing to properly align a propane cylinder pin on a truck with its positioning hole. Combined penalty: $2,500. Storing a 50-inch-diameter paper roll atop a 30-inch-diameter paper roll in the finishing and shipping warehouse. Penalty: $3,500. Transporting a propane fuel cylinder lengthwise across a powered truck’s forks. Penalty: $2,500. OSHA also issued three other citations that did not carry monetary penalties, for failing to install a portable fire extinguisher on a fork truck, failing to post a load and weight rating chart on a fork truck for its paper-clamp attachment, and keeping a truck with a defective parking brake in service.

Supermarket fined $3000 for forklift accident

21.04.2001 4.16 pm

A Hawke’s Bay supermarket has been fined nearly $3000 for an accident involving a forklift operator who dropped cartons of beer, knocking another employee unconscious. Tamatea Foods Ltd, trading as Pak `N’ Save, was convicted in Napier District Court yesterday on a charge of breaching the Health and Safety in Employment Act. Storeman Ryan Ashton suffered short term loss of consciousness and amnesia and needed stitches to both hands and his right knee when the accident happened on October 18 last year. Aaron Woods, the operator of the forklift, had been moving two pallets containing 60 cartons of 24 packs of beer when they toppled on to Mr Ashton, knocking him off a ladder into cartons and to the floor. The court was told the load had been unsecured and was more than 200kg over the 1350kg maximum weight. Mr Woods had not operated a forklift before he began working at the supermarket six months before the accident. The company was charged by the Occupational Safety and Health Service for failing to adequately train the forklift operator. Company director Hanno Hasselman admitted he was aware of the need for forklift operators to be certified but had not followed up organising a training course. The company was convicted and fined $2500 and ordered to pay $200 lawyer fees and $130 court costs.