Details

Parent Category: Incident Alert Archives

Category: Mobile Equipment, Forklift, Manlifts Alerts

Published: 10 September 2010

Mobile Equipment Accidents #2

This page was last updated on  05/06/2010

Cement truck tips; driver unhurt
St. Joseph News-Press

St. Joseph police and fire officials responded to Heartland Regional Medical Center Wednesday afternoon when a cement truck tipped over in a construction area. Officer Henry Pena said Timothy A. Stone, 21, was driving the cement truck for Herzog Contracting Corp. The accident happened as Mr. Stone inched the truck forward through the construction zone near Heartland Medical Plaza . Mr. Stone noticed the truck leaning to the right and tried to back up, and that’s when it tipped over, Mr. Pena said. Mr. Stone wasn’t injured, and no tickets were issued, Mr. Pena said.

Workers struck, killed by truck

BETHLEHEM (AP) - Two employees of the city's recycling center were killed Tuesday after they were struck by an elderly woman driving a pickup truck, authorities said. Officials said Edwin R. Theis Jr., 80, and Lewis Cornfeld, 71, both of Bethlehem , were killed. The two were part-time employees at Bethlehem 's recycling center. Mayor Don Cunningham told The Express-Times of Easton that an elderly woman driving a pickup truck backed into the men just before 4 p.m. "The lady had apparently backed over them and then went forward," Cunningham said. "They were run over twice." City officials said the two were pinned against the compactor. Cunningham said the woman told police she wasn't aware she had hit anything. Theis was pronounced dead on arrival at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Salisbury, said Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim. Cornfeld died Tuesday night at St. Luke's Hospital in Fountain Hill, a nursing supervisor said. The woman's name wasn't released, and police are investigating. Deputy Director of Community Development Dana Grubb said Theis and Cornfeld were "long-term, dedicated employees, held in high esteem by their co-workers. They were both quiet. Both had a dry sense of humor."

Two die in freak accidents

By MARY FRANCES DONALSON, News Writer

A prominent Seminole County man and a Brinson woman were killed this week in two separate work-related accidents. Phillip Hornsby, an Iron City businessman and farmer, died instantly Thursday afternoon in a bulldozer accident in Early County . According to reports, Hornsby had purchased a bulldozer from an Early County resident who lives south of Highway 94 near the Chattahoochee River . In trying to load the bulldozer onto a trailer, the machine somehow became overbalanced and fell to the ground, pinning Hornsby beneath it. He was pronounced dead at the scene by Early County Coroner Billy Joe Jordan. Hornsby was a veteran Seminole County commissioner and had extensive farming and business interests. He was a Democratic candidate for state representative in the 2000 election, the post presently held by Hugh Broome of Donalsonville. He was the brother of Murry “Buddy” Hornsby of Bainbridge. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Evans-Skipper Funeral Home of Donalsonville.

UPDATE, Heavy fine for company with untrained forklift operator

Watco Design and Display of Dalkeith have been fined #7000 at Edinburgh Sheriff Court for permitting an untrained employee to operate a forklift truck, injuring another employee who sustained multiple fractures. The operator was engaged in an activity for which no risk assessment had been conducted, and without the benefit of adequate supervision, when he ran over a colleague's foot in November, 2000. The company received a prohibition notice over the matter. An HSE spokeswoman commented: "The level of the fine reflects the seriousness with which the court viewed the incident. The prohibition notice issued is effectively ongoing and could lead to prosecution if he is involved in another incident. There are an increasing number of accidents involving people being struck by moving vehicles in the workplace. HSE are very concerned about this and it is a key priority this year to focus on reducing these."

Outage leaves more than 100 without power

Staff report

DAYTONA BEACH -- The raised bed of a dump truck snagged some power lines Tuesday on Keech Street , leaving more than 100 customers temporarily without electricity, police said. Freddie Watson, 48, of Daytona Beach , a driver for Halifax Paving, had just dumped the 10-wheeler's load and was northbound on Keech Street at noon when the raised bed caught the wires at Loomis Avenue . "I was going on a lunch break. I changed gears and then I heard the whining. I looked back and it was up," Watson said. "I raised it by mistake." The bed snapped the top of a utility pole near Campbell Middle School , snapping power lines that carried electricity to 101 customers, said Vickie Henson, spokeswoman for Florida Power & Light Co. Electricity was restored at 2:41 p.m. after an FPL crew replaced the pole and wires, Henson said. Police said no one was injured in the accident, but estimated it caused $4,000 in damages to the power equipment. Charges are pending further investigation, police said.

Digger plunges into 10-foot hole

BY SAM THOMSON, April 6, 2002 05:07

A CONSTRUCTION worker was lucky to escape unharmed when the 20-tonne excavator he was driving toppled into a ten-foot deep hole. The man was part of a demolition team clearing buildings off Rose Lane in Ipswich at around 5pm yesterday when the ground beneath him collapsed. He was left badly shaken but unhurt in the incident. James Wilson, senior contracts manager at RG Carter Ipswich, the construction company at the site, said his employee did not wish to be named and the incident was just a very rare accident. "There was no hole that could be seen and the machine just fell right through the concrete into the basement below," he said. "It's not a very common thing to happen." A safety officer will investigate the accident and Mr Wilson added the main concern for the company was that no one was injured. He said: "That is the first thing we were worried about. It has been a bit of a shock for the driver but everyone is all right. Machines can be replaced but people cannot." Last night Mr Wilson was hopeful the machine would be lifted out of the hole just a few hours after the incident. RG Carter Ipswich is in its third week of demolition and the work should be finished in a fortnight before construction work begins. The finished site should be complete by November and will eventually consist of a complex of shops with flats above.

Sympathy after man is killed

By Hayley Cuthbertson

Bosses have offered sympathy after a worker died in an industrial accident at a Coventry firm on Tuesday. Sofedit UK - formerly Coventry Presswork - said Neil Morris, a line feeder and forklift truck driver at the company in Burnsall Road, Canley, was working in an aisle at the firm when heavy steel boxes fell on top of him. Firefighters and paramedics gave first aid but 36-year-old Mr Morris died later during emergency surgery at Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital. A post-mortem examination into his death was expected to be held today. A statement issued on behalf of the company, which supplies car components to Vauxhall, Peugeot and Jaguar, said: "The company wishes to extend its deepest sympathy to the family and friends of Mr Morris. "The accident was reported immediately to the Health and Safety Executive, who have visited the premises and will undertake an investigation into the incident. "While that is ongoing, the company would not wish to add anything further at this time." Officers from Little Park Street police station will be working with the Health and Safety Executive in Birmingham as part of a joint investigation into the accident.

Man fatally hurt after machine falls

Published April 6, 2002

VERNON HILLS -- A 36-year-old Crystal Lake man was killed Thursday when a 1,000-pound machine fell on him during a routine cleaning operation at a Vernon Hills business. Scott Zuchristian was walking in front of a forklift, carrying cables attached to a rock-grinding machine that was being carried outdoors for cleaning at STS Consultants, 750 Corporate Woods Drive, a soil, rock and mineral testing company, said Jim Wipper, Lake County chief deputy coroner. A preliminary investigation has led police to believe the machine fell off the forklift when the lift drove over a doorstep, Wipper said. The machine hit Zuchristian in the head. He was pronounced dead at Condell Medical Center in Libertyville at 1:54 p.m. Thursday. Vernon Hills police are investigating.

UPDATE, Company faces death charges
01.04.2002

A Hamilton company will face charges over the death of a roading contractor crushed by a seven-tonne road roller last year. Occupational Safety and Health service manager Kevin Webby said Gremara Holdings would face two charges relating to the death of Chris O'Reilly, 26, of Morrinsville. OSH alleges that the employer failed to take all practicable steps to ensure that the roller was fitted with a roll-cage and a seatbelt. It is also alleged that the employer failed to ensure that there were effective methods for systematically identifying existing hazards to employees at work. The charges carry a maximum fine of $50,000. Mr O'Reilly was killed by crushing injuries on September 8 last year while workers were preparing to build a roundabout on Cobham Drive at the entrance to Hamilton Gardens . The roundabout has not been built. The company will appear in the Hamilton District Court on April 19.

City worker dies in garbage truck accident

San Antonio Express-News, Web Posted : 03/29/2002 2:39 PM

A 28-year-old city employee was killed Friday morning after the garbage truck he was driving rolled over in the city's Southeast Side. A witness told police the man was driving a San Antonio garage truck and traveling north on Loop 410 near Houston Street when the truck veered off the road, went through a guardrail and rolled over. The driver was ejected from the vehicle and was crushed when the truck landed on him, police said. Officials did not release the man's name, pending notification of family. Sgt. Ken Davis said the accident is under investigation. He said speed did not appear to be a factor. Normally, three workers are assigned to a garbage truck, city officials said. It was unclear Friday why there was only one man in the vehicle. The accident closed down traffic on a stretch of Loop 410 for more than two hours while crews cleared the debris.

OSHA investigates man's death

By Kevin Schuster, Papillion Times
LA VISTA – The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating an accidental death at a La Vista frozen-foods distribution center March 21. John Handcock, 45, of Fremont , died in a forklift accident at Pinnacle Foods Corp., 10711 Olive St. "We are looking for conditions applicable for safety and health conditions," said Ben Bare, OSHA’s area director. Handcock was working unsupervised in a cold storage unit using a standup forklift. He backed into a chain, pinning his neck against the forklift. A co-worker found Handcock. The Papillion Volunteer Fire Department transported Handcock to St. Joseph Hospital in Omaha , where he was pronounced dead. Bare said the investigation will take several weeks to complete. "I have no determination at this time," Bare said. "We will do a physical inspection of the worksite. We will look at the conditions, the forklift, the area surrounding where the accident occurred." OSHA will visit with management representatives and employees about Handcock’s forklift duties. Then, OSHA will determine whether a violation of standards was committed or make a recommendation on how to improve standards. Bare said Pinnacle Foods is cooperating with the investigation. Forklifts are used at the facility owned by United States Cold Storage Inc. to move Swanson-based frozen foods that are produced at Pinnacle Foods’ downtown Omaha plant before they are shipped. Pinnacle employs about 30 employees at a plant previously owned by Vlasic Foods International and Campbell Soup Co. Handcock was with the company for 19 years. He worked for Campbell Soup in Fremont . Handcock transferred to La Vista about 11 years ago when Fremont ’s plant closed. Handcock is survived by his wife, Sharon, and four children – twin 19-year-old daughters Beth and Becky, 14-year-old daughter Bonnie and Jonathan, a 5-year-old son. This is the second time OSHA’s had to investigate a fatal Nebraska worksite accident this year. A man died in North Platte after he fell off a roof in January.

Forklift accident kills Grand Prairie man
Star-Telegram

GRAND PRAIRIE - A forklift operator was crushed to death by a forklift Thursday at the Quaker Oats Co. distribution plant in Grand Prairie, police said. Robert Henderson, 51, of Grand Prairie was pronounced dead at the scene. The accident happened shortly after noon on the north side of the building at the plant's loading docks near Belt Line Road on Trinity Boulevard. Henderson apparently was trying to move a pallet of canned drink product onto the bed of a semitrailer truck, Sgt. Alan Patton said. "As the forklift operator was pulling into the trailer, the driver of the truck was pulling away," Patton said. Henderson was thrown from the 1,100 pound forklift, Patton said. "As the truck pulled farther away, the forklift fell on top of the man," Patton said. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will investigate, officials said.

Family sue over death of Oasis roadie

BRUCE McKAIN

THE family of a lorry driver who was crushed to death on the eve of an Oasis concert on the banks of Loch Lomond is suing for #500,000 over his death. James Hunter, 28, was one of more than 1000 workmen and technicians involved in setting up the park for the concert in August 1996 when he met his death. Four men were later cleared of health and safety charges at Dumbarton Sheriff Court, but Mr Hunter's parents, Margaret and James, and his partner, Margaret Jamieson, all from Hamilton, have now raised a damages action at the court of session. Mr Hunter, a trucking contractor, had driven his HGV vehicle to the site to deliver beer and was killed when a forklift truck reversed and pinned him against his lorry. The family claims that the site traffic manager instructed William Murray to use the forklift in an attempt to free the lorry even though Mr Murray wasn't qualified to operate it and did not even have a driving licence. Mr Hunter was treated by paramedics on the site but was confirmed dead on arrival at Vale of Leven Hospital, Alexandria. In their case against the forklift truck driver, the family is also arguing that Mr Murray should have checked no-one was behind him before he reversed. Mr Murray, of Sunnylaw Street, Possilpark, Glasgow, claims that, as he drove slowly forward, an attached tow rope tightened and the forklift slipped backwards. Mr and Mrs Hunter are each claiming #50,000 and Miss Jamieson, of Yetholm Terrace, Hamilton, is asking for #400,000 for herself and the couple's daughter, Nicole. They are also suing a number of individuals and companies responsible for organising the concert and at a legal debate in the case yesterday, Mr Murray and all the parties to the action denied liability. No date has yet been fixed for a full hearing of evidence in the case.

Confusion led to forklift plunge

Macfarlane Packaging Ltd, of Newton Place, Glasgow has pleaded guilty to a breach of health and safety legislation and been fined #3,000 at Paisley Sheriff Court. Thomas Munro, the forklift truck driver, and his machine plunged into a loading bay at the City's Braehead shopping centre, resulting in his injury. The company had failed to ensure a safe system of work at its Braehead depot in April last year, when a lorry driver moved to another bay and Mr Taylor, who was aboard, drove out and fell from the rear of the vehicle. The error was said to have arisen through a supervisory misunderstanding.

UPDATE, COMPANY'S FINE IS CUT BY JUDGE
COURT REPORTER, 10:30 - 14 March 2002

A NORTH Warwickshire company which was prosecuted after an employee was hit by a forklift truck has had the huge fines it was ordered to pay slashed by a judge at Warwick Crown Court . Sertec Birmingham, based in Gorsey Lane , Coleshill, with a workforce of 320, had been fined a total of £25,000 and ordered to pay £1,458 costs by Nuneaton magistrates. But at Warwick Crown Court the company successfully appealed against the level of the fines, which were the maximum the magistrates could have imposed, and they were cut to a total of £7,500. In a prosecution brought by the Health and Safety Executive, Sertec had pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the safety and welfare of employees and failing to ensure that traffic activity in its logistics park was organised to allow the safe circulation of vehicles and pedestrians. Bernard Thorogood, prosecuting at the crown court, said the investigation began after 45-year-old Robert Bode was hit by a forklift truck last May. Mr Bode, an experienced employee, was getting parts from a pallet in the logistics park, and did not notice that a forklift truck which had been reversing had begun to turn and move forwards. He was hit by it and saw three pallets 'looming over him', although fortunately they did not fall, and suffered cuts to his nose and head and bruising to his back. The driver of the diesel forklift truck had not seen him because there was no mirror on the vehicle and there was a blind spot because of the height of the pallets. In addition, the flashing warning light on the truck was not working, there was no siren to indicate when it was reversing, no governor to restrict its speed, and the firm, which makes metal mouldings for the automotive industry, had no written system for reporting defects. At the time there were no designated walkways for pedestrians in the logistics park and no barriers to protect employees on foot from vehicles moving around the area. Mr Thorogood, who pointed out that there were about 70 deaths a year from transport accidents in the workplace, added that since the incident Sertec has issued high-visibility clothing and introduced other measures including separate walkways for pedestrians in the logistics park. And Judge Richard Cole commented: "There has been a genuine effort to make sure it does not happen again." Jane Sarginson, for Sertec, said the firm had spent £300,000 on health and safety before the accident, and as soon as it had happened risk assessment experts were brought in and their recommendations acted upon. Asking for the fines to be reduced, she said the truck's light and siren had been repaired the previous month, and argued that the magistrates had not taken into account the speed with which the company had acted to put things right. Miss Sarginson pointed out that although the company had a turnover of £22.5m, the fines represented ten per cent of its annual profit of £224,000. Allowing the appeal, Judge Cole, who was sitting with two magistrates, said: "We have come to the conclusion that the fines were excessive, in all the circumstances." But he ordered that Sertec should still pay the costs of the hearing in the magistrates court plus £1,000 towards the costs of the appeal hearing.

Flooring gives way beneath forklift

TIM GRACE, Special to The Call

LINCOLN -- A structural failure in the former Lonsdale Bleachery building sent a forklift, complete with driver, crashing through the second-story floor boards down to the ground level yesterday afternoon. Firefighters at the scene said the forklift operator, a 20-year-old male whose name was not released, suffered minor neck and back injuries in the fall. He managed to pull himself from the lift's cab and climb out of the rubble on his own before rescue crews arrived, firefighters said. Lincoln rescue transported the victim to Rhode Island Hospital for treatment. Another man on the second floor at the time of the accident was not injured. Firefighters said the building's ground level was vacant. Lonsdale Fire Chief Timothy Griffin said a 50-by-50-foot section of wooden flooring gave way under the forklift and a mass of metal shelving, filing cabinets and other objects fell with the lift through to the ground level. He estimated the drop from floor to floor to be about 15 feet. "We couldn't even see the lift, it was so covered with debris," Griffin said. "We're very, very lucky that no one was seriously hurt." Griffin said he couldn't estimate the cost to repair damage to the building. Town Engineer John Faile and Building Inspector Joe Botehlo were also called to the site. Faile said he didn't know what had caused the accident, but that the damage to the building was significant. "There's just a bunch of stuff hanging in there right now," he said. After touring the 101-year-old, red brick and timber structure, Griffin said it appeared overloading of the second floor may have caused the accident. The Procaccianti Group of Cranston owns the building and the second floor is leased to Business Surplus, an office equipment and furniture supplier. Calls to both Procaccianti and Business Surplus were not answered late yesterday afternoon. The first floor is home to Enterprise Plastic Recycling. Griffin said Enterprise typically operates only at night and that it was not unusual for it to be vacant during the day. Griffin said the electricity and gas lines connected to the building had been shut off and that the building, for the moment, appears to be mostly stable. Engineers will have to devise a plan to unload the remaining stock on the second floor before repairs to the building can begin. Harmony Windows, a company operating out of the front of the building, is also without power. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration was notified of the accident and Griffin confirmed an OSHA representative was at the scene yesterday. Messages left at OSHA's Providence office were not immediately returned yesterday afternoon.

Teen Killed in Forklift Accident
March 4, 2002, 08:15 AM By AP Staff
A 15-year-old was killed when he was crushed between a moving forklift and the rear end of a tractor-trailer at an auto-parts salvage yard. The boy, who was not identified, was pronounced dead at the scene Sunday. A yard worker was using the forklift to put damaged cars on the back of the truck, Lane County sheriff's Sgt. Steve Weir said. The boy somehow became pinned and could not escape in time. The death was ruled accidental, Weir said.

Untrained forklift driver killed labourer
HSE has successfully prosecuted a Berkshire construction company and one of its directors for their part in the accidental death of a labourer, Kevin Moyle, on 7th August 2000 on a site in Basingstoke. Southampton Crown Court heard how director Julian Austin of Austin Brickwork had instructed an untrained and untested employee to drive the truck. Austin Brickwork Ltd pleaded guilty to a breach of S.2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 for which it was fined £40,000 with £8,799 costs, Director Julian Austin was fined £20,000 after pleading guilty to breaching Section 37(1) of the same Act, because he instructed an untrained employee to drive the truck. HSE investigating inspector, Mike Sarson, said: "Mr Moyle's death highlights the need for employers to use only trained and licensed forklift truck drivers. Any employer, director or manager that allows a person who is untrained to drive workplace machinery increases the risk of an accident, which could result in injury or death."

Forklift driver stuck in freezer for two hours

February 25, 2002

City of Pewaukee - A forklift operator was left pinned in a freezer area for two hours after he accidentally backed into a shelving unit at Waukesha All-Temp Storage Feb. 19. According to the police report, Richard Green, 54, of Mequon was backing up a forklift in a freezer unit at the business at W229 N1492 Westwood Drive when he became stuck at about 10:10 a.m. A co-worker discovered Green shortly after noon "crunched over the control of the fork lift," the report said. The Pewaukee Fire Department was able to extricate Green, who was transported to a hospital. Police said Green was conscious and alert at the time. In another police report, a two-vehicle accident occurred Feb. 21 at Highway JJ and Morris Street . According to the report, Sarah Ullenberg, 21, of Brookfield was driving north on Highway JJ at about 7 a.m. when she began to turn left at Morris Street to continue on Highway JJ. As Ullenberg turned, her car collided with a southbound van on Morris Street driven by William Schlesner Jr., 82, of 258 Morris St. , village of Pewaukee . Schlesner was in the process of turning right onto Highway JJ, the report said. No injuries or citations were listed.

Company fined $5,000 after worker poisoned by carbon monoxide

Pacifica Seafoods Limited has been fined $5,000 after being prosecuted by the Occupational Safety & Health Service (OSH). The company were sentenced yesterday at the Christchurch District Court. “Workers had been cleaning in a chiller, when one collapsed and was taken to hospital,” said Margaret Radford, Service Manager of OSH Canterbury - West Coast Region.“Later that day another worker complained to his supervisor of a bad headache. He was also taken to hospital, and a blood test revealed that he had carbon monoxide poisoning. “A forklift powered by LPG had been transporting large bags of mussels in the chiller, during the earlier part of the evening. “The chiller was a large enclosed space, and had no means of ventilation with fresh air, other than natural ventilation through the doors. With no means of clearing the exhaust fumes from the LPG forklift, carbon monoxide levels built up. “Usually an electric forklift was used in the chiller, but the machine could not be used this particular evening because it required repairs. An alternative safe means of lifting and transporting bags of mussels within the chiller was not used. “This prosecution should serve to warn employers of the dangers of operating combustion engine forklifts in poorly ventilated areas,” said Ms Radford. “Fortunately, the victim did not suffer any lasting ill effect from this incident.”“There have been a number of incidents in recent years where workers have been taken to hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning. “The hazards of operating combustion engine forklifts in poorly ventilated areas, such as chillers and holds of ships, should be well known to industry. The best solution is to eliminate the hazard completely, and use only electric forklifts in such areas.” For further information: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Service Manager, OSH , Canterbury - West Coast Region Tel: 03 365 2600  Mobile 025 278 1834 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Business Adviser-Public Relations, OSH , Wellington . Tel: 04 915 4390  Mobile : 025 463 538

Driver falls off roller, dies

CONSTRUCTION worker Seah Quee Hoy, 52, was supposed to complete his work on a 50-m stretch of road along Jurong Port Road on Friday. But while driving a steam-roller that day, he fell off after losing control of it and died. Police said the accident happened at 9.20 pm. The steam roller swerved and mounted a kerb after Mr Seah lost control, and he was thrown off his seat and onto the pavement. The unconscious man was taken to National University Hospital, where he died shortly before 10.30 pm. The police are appealing for witnesses. Anyone with information should call them on 1800- 547-1818.

Indy Worker Dies After Being Run Over By Semi

Thursday February 14 08:39 PM EST

A trucking company employee died Thursday after he was run over by a semi, the Indianapolis Police Department said. The incident happened around 1:30 p.m. at Knight Transportation, 3702 W. Minnesota St., police said. The company is located on the city's southwest side. Lt. Paul Ciesielski said mechanics had just finished working on the truck when the driver was told he could back out of a service bay. Ciesielski said investigators believe the worker was hit when he tried to grab a grease gun in the truck's path. The worker was taken to Wishard Memorial Hospital, where he died. His name was not immediately released.

Forklift operator ill after punching drum

From Times staff reports

A forklift operator remained hospitalized Monday evening with respiratory problems after he accidentally punctured a hole in a 55-gallon drum that contained a highly toxic acid. Gabriel Guillen, 29, was working at the Fritz Company, 8309 Killam Industrial Park, when he accidentally punctured a barrel containing cresylic acid as he was unloading a trailer, officials said. He was transported to Doctors Hospital complaining of respiratory problems. A Laredo Fire Department Hazardous Materials team was called to provide assistance while police cordoned off several blocks to prevent additional injuries. An area in the Killam Industrial Park from Sara to Mines Road on Killam remained closed for about eight hours to through traffic as fire department technicians with the Haz-Mat team cleaned the spill. As an added precaution, surrounding warehouses were also evacuated. The spilled acid was in a liquid form and is considered highly toxic in an enclosed area, according to fire department officials. The fumes dissipate in the open air and are rendered harmless once it is exposed to an open, ventilated environment. As of Monday evening, firefighters were containing the spill and neutralizing the acid inside the trailer and yard with soda ash.

Worker paralysed in forklift accident gets #2.4 million compensation

Greg Arde, 28, sustained serious spinal injuries in an accident in which a fork lift truck he was operating fell on top of him while he worked at the premises of Duel Ltd, Cwmbran in 1995. He is now paraplegic and requires a number of care workers to support him through 24 hours. In an out-of-court settlement, Mr Arde has received #2.4m in damages, his legal representative Mick Antoniw commented: "As far as I am aware this is one of the largest ever settlements for an adult in south Wales. Greg is a remarkable individual who has learned to cope with catastrophic injuries. The compensation will help him put the accident behind him and reconstruct his life." Before the settlement was reached, 90% liability had already been established before a hearing scheduled for March.

UPDATE, 10th Mountain Division soldier recounts terrifying forklift accident in Afghanistan

By Sean E. Cobb , Kaiserslautern bureau

European edition, Saturday, February 9, 2002

LANDSTUHL, Germany - As his body scraped across the surface of the airfield and his life flashed before his eyes, the Army soldier knew he was going to die. "Then I got mad," Spc. Justin Lingle said as his broken body lay in a Landstuhl Regional Medical Center recovery room. "I wanted to live ."With that thought, the 10th Mountain Division soldier passed out on the airfield. Lingle and four other soldiers were injured the night of Jan. 27 when a forklift ran over them as they made their way to an aircraft at an Afghan airfield. Lingle and his platoon sergeant, Staff Sgt. Nicholas Sultzbach, who suffered a broken arm, arrived at the hospital in Germany on Jan. 29. Medical personnel near the scene treated and released the other three soldiers, Pentagon officials said. After being hit from behind, Lingle said he was dragged "along with the pallet for quite while" before some soldiers got the forklift to stop. With a pack on his back, and another rucksack strapped in front of him, all he could do was curl into a fetal position, he said. Lingle could not confirm if he had parachute jump gear on or talk about the mission aboard the aircraft due to security considerations. The Pentagon would not release details of the accident. After the forklift stopped, Lingle, a radio operator, found his leg tangled up in Sultzbach's waist. Untangling himself, Sultzbach ran back to the staging tent they had just left, yelled for a phone and passed out, Lingle would later learn. When Lingle came to, other soldiers were crowded around him trying to cut off his gear. He recalled trying to raise a hand and give the OK sign to let them know he was alive. "I don't know if I was able to," he said. Lingle suffered a compound fracture to his leg, a fractured skull and a fractured lower vertebrae. In addition, the pressure on his upper body was so great it caused his eyes, ears, nose and mouth to bleed. "Those eyes would scare anyone," said Lingle's mother, Marsha, referring to her son's red eyes as she stood by his bedside. "I was just so glad he was breathing." Army officials contacted the Lingle family in Lancaster, S.C., shortly after the accident. The Army then flew Marsha Lingle to Germany. "The Army has been wonderful about everything," she said. Marsha Lingle has been a nurse for 30 years, so she's accustomed to taking care of others. Now she is on the other side of the hospital chart. "I've never been needy before," she said, "but now I can appreciate what it feels like." Justin's father, Jim, calls several times a day. Jim Lingle stayed home to handle the home front and all the telephone calls, his wife said. "He said, 'When you're hurt, you want your mama,'" Marsha Lingle said. "And that's true." The first thing Justin Lingle wanted her to do was wash the clothes he had on when he was injured, Marsha said. The torn clothes show where all his injuries were. Justin wants to keep the clothes so he can some day show his grandchildren. "I was surprised he looked so good," said Michelle Scott, Justin's fiancie, who also flew to Germany. Scott originally thought the worse. She imagined him being torn up, bruised and inundated with tubes and needles. Instead, she found that after surgery he was looking and feeling better. Justin Lingle left Landstuhl on Wednesday for further treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. From there, he will go to the Eisenhower Medical Center at Fort Gordon, Ga., which is closer to his home and unit, said Marie Shaw, a hospital spokeswoman. "Besides getting married, I don't have any plans for the future right now," the soldier said. "Oh, we are going to watch 'Black Hawk Down' together," he said, looking at Michelle. "I asked her to wait until we could watch it together." His recovery should take about three months, but Lingle and Scott are not waiting that long to be married. The couple canceled their first wedding date when Lingle deployed to Afghanistan. The nuptials are now scheduled for April 27. Scott said they will be held, and it doesn't matter if her husband-to-be is still in a wheelchair or not. "I'm very proud of him," Marsha Lingle said of her son. Going to Afghanistan put her son where he wanted to be, doing what he wanted to do, she said. As she recalled a conversation she had with her son prior to his deployment, Marsha Lingle began to cry. "He told me, 'Mom, I got my Bible, and I got my cross.'"

Fatal accident

A worker has died of his injuries when he fell from a vehicle he was standing on. Alexander Craig, 38, a scaffolder, is reported to have been blown off balance by strong, gusting winds in Rothesay at the weekend.

UPDATE, Rescuers had no chance of saving worker

Construction worker's death would have been quick, coroner says

KITCHENER - The life of construction worker Eric Bowers could not have been saved even if his co-workers had acted quickly to free him from beneath a piece of earth-moving machinery, a coroner said yesterday at the inquest into the man's death. Bowers, 39, was killed Oct. 26, 1999, after he was pinned beneath the bucket of the machine he was attempting to clean. The two-day inquest concluded yesterday in Kitchener. "This would have been a massive blow,'' said Dr. John Neenen, after reviewing the autopsy results. "He would have died a very quick strangulation death. ... He would have been rendered unconscious.'' The official cause of death was asphyxiation, caused by a "massive compression injury,'' said Neenen. Bowers also suffered broken ribs and a broken leg from the impact.  Bowers, a Kitchener resident and father of a year-old son, was working for the Elora-based Dave Martin Excavating Co. laying sewer pipe in a field just east of New Hamburg. Near the end of the shift, Bowers and another employee were cleaning the mud from the machine when its hydraulic system apparently failed and the large bucket collapsed. Earlier in the inquest, job-site supervisor Ed McGuire said that after the accident he rejected lifting the bucket from Bowers with a backhoe because he did not know the man's condition and that he was afraid of causing further injury. McGuire, the machine's operator who was later charged and fined in connection with the fatal accident, testified that he had warned Bowers not to work under the bucket. The five-member jury hearing evidence at the inquest recommended that, upon hire, all construction workers get a mandatory and interactive safety training session of between two to four hours, and that it include videos, training manuals, and CD-ROM presentations detailing the risks of the construction site. As well, the jury recommended that the Construction Safety Association of Ontario consider implementing an industry-wide safety training certification program for employees and supervisors, and that all those in a supervisory role receive certification in safety training - a certification that would have to be renewed from time to time. The jury also suggested that the Ministry

of Labour issue an alert requiring that all safety equipment associated with any machine be kept with the machine at all times in proper working order, and that all employees interacting with any machine be familiar with the location of the safety equipment and its proper use. Bowers' sisters-in-law - Denise Thomas and Kitty Stanciu - said following the inquest that they agreed with the jury's recommendations. "We hope that no one else will have to go through this,'' said Thomas. But, they rejected testimony that Bowers had been warned against working beneath the bucket. "If Eric had been told not to go under the bucket he wouldn't have done it, and I'm not going to be convinced otherwise,'' said Stanciu. "He wouldn't have put himself in danger. He had a young son.''

Farm Worker Is Killed in Somis Accident

Tragedy: Woman is knocked from ladder by passing forklift. She is third field laborer to die on the job in past year.

By TIMOTHY HUGHES, TIMES STAFF WRITER

A 28-year-old farm worker picking lemons in a Somis grove was killed Thursday when she sustained massive head injuries after being knocked off a ladder by a passing forklift. Olivia Hernandez of Santa Paula was pronounced dead at St. John's Regional Medical Center in Oxnard about an hour after the 11:40 a.m. accident, said Craig Stevens, a senior deputy medical examiner for Ventura County. Hernandez became the third farm worker killed during an on-the-job accident in Ventura County in the past year and the eighth in 1 1/2 years. She was among 26 farm workers at an 85-acre grove on Aggen Road, about half a mile north of California 118 when the accident occurred. Stevens said Hernandez was three to four feet above the ground when a forklift jarred her ladder and she fell and struck her head on a section of hard dirt. She had few visible signs of head trauma, but most likely suffered massive internal head injuries, Stevens said. An autopsy is set for today. Investigators from Cal/OSHA spent much of the afternoon interviewing employees and retracing the events leading up to the accident. Dean Fryer, a spokesman for the state safety agency, said many questions remain. Investigators, for instance, were unsure whether Hernandez's head first

struck the forklift. Stevens said there was nothing on the straddle forklift--designed to pick up large boxes or containers--to indicate Hernandez had struck the vehicle before the ground. Several employees pulled Hernandez from under the trees and attempted to revive her until paramedics arrived, said Carlos Quintino, a foreman at the farm. Fryer said Hernandez was an employee of farm labor contractor Da-Vir Industries Ltd. of Ventura. He said the company's safety record was unblemished except for minor health violations involving worker cleanliness. The farm is operated by the D.F.K. Corp. in Somis, Quintino said. No one answered the phone Thursday at the company's office. Since last spring, two other farm employees have been killed on the job. In November, a 65-year-old tractor driver was killed when he attempted to cross an unguarded section of railroad track near Camarillo and was struck by an Amtrak train. In April, a 79-year-old labor contractor from Fillmore died when he was run over by a forklift driven by one of his employees at Calleguas Ranch in Camarillo. Fryer said an investigation into

Thursday's accident could take up to three months and bring a penalty of between a "a few hundred and $25,000." Since the agency began a statewide program in 1999 to increase awareness of farm hazards for workers, the number of fatal accidents has declined. There were 39 farm worker deaths in 1999 and 16 reported in 2000. Numbers for 2001 were not available, Fryer said. The program includes safety classes for farm workers and owners as well as periodic inspections of equipment and working conditions. "You are out there in the weather and the elements and it's dangerous work," Fryer said. "It's very difficult and strenuous work especially when you have equipment moving around."

Live wire contained at school construction site

By BRIAN DENEAL

ELDORADO - Eldorado firefighters responded to call of an electrical fire at the new high school building at about 10 a.m. Wednesday. On arrival they found a live wire had broken from the overhead line by a construction worker who was operating a forklift used during the brickwork on the building. The forklift was extended as the worker backed up and he did not see the line before snapping it."It was arcing. It was getting with the program," Fire Chief Mike McKinnies said. Firefighters remained on the scene until an Illinois Power worker could shut off the electricity. But while power was still in the line, it was apparently a sight to behold."You could hardly look at it, it was arcing so bad," McKinnies said. The line dangled about a foot above the ground, and though the situation was a dangerous one, no one was injured. McKinnies said power was off in parts of the city from about 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. requiring some Eldorado students and pupils to eat their lunch in the dark. The power outage resulted in another call, this one at 10:23 a.m. to the 1508 5th St. residence of Charles Jacobs. McKinnies said the power outage caused Jacobs furnace to smoke. There was no damage. A third call came from Roundy's on U.S. Route 45 south of Eldorado. McKinnies said workers were checking the alarm system and had failed to notify the fire department.

Bath man, 33, dies in accident; Construction miscue in Meridian Twp. crushes man's chest

By Katie Matvias, Lansing State Journal

EAST LANSING - A 33-year-old Bath man died Monday after his chest was crushed in a construction accident. Mark Cooper was using a lift to work on a pillar of a building at 2655 E. Grand River Ave. about 1:30 p.m., Meridian Township Lt. Tom Couling said. "He was leaning over the railing screwing a board into a metal bracket, and he was very close to the ceiling,'' Couling said. "Somehow, he activated the toggle switch to go up and he didn't have time to get himself out between the railing and the ceiling.'' A co-worker at Integrity Interiors saw Cooper and hit the emergency release, Couling said. Cooper was pronounced dead at Sparrow Hospital. "He was the kind of guy who would do anything for anyone,'' Brenda Cooper said of her husband. "He didn't know how to say the word 'no.' '' Cooper leaves three children, ages 10, 8 and 7. Mark Cooper, who worked in construction for 15 years, was an avid hunter who loved the outdoors, his wife said. No one could be reached for comment at Integrity Interiors of Okemos. The incident is under investigation but Couling said they don't suspect foul play. The Department of Consumer and Industry Services, Bureau of Safety and Regulation responded to the scene. No one at the bureau returned phone calls seeking comment Monday evening. "Accidents happen,'' Brenda Cooper said. "But he's never been seriously injured. I never expected anything like this.'' Funeral arrangements were pending Monday night.

Two Plead Guilty In Worker's Death

By Graham Rayman, STAFF WRITER, January 29, 2002

Two officials with a Brooklyn demolition company pleaded guilty yesterday to federal workplace safety charges in connection with the death of an immigrant worker. Rogelio Villanueva, of Puebla, Mexico, was fatally crushed April 30 at a Williamsburg warehouse when a 5,000-pound steel beam fell on top of him. The beam and flooring gave way under the weight of a 24,000-pound forklift. Moshe Junger, the owner of Mordechai Rubbish Inc., pleaded guilty to "causing the death of a worker" by failing to do an engineering study to check the strength of the structure before using the forklift, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Faughnan. Ramon Acosta, Junger's foreman, pleaded guilty to "making false statements" to an investigator with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Prosecutors said Junger used the forklift at the 104 S. Eighth St. job site even though he had been told a month earlier that he had to check the strength of the floor. Acosta, prosecutors said, lied to OSHA investigators about whether he knew that an engineering study should have been done. Junger and Acosta each face up to 6 months in prison and a fine of $250,000. Junger has agreed to pay a $100,000 penalty to settle OSHA violations in connection with the site.

Worker found dead - Officials suspect accident

By:PENNY BANDY, Staff Writer, January 27, 2002

A longtime highway department employee died Thursday after an apparent accident at the quarry on County Garage Road.Detective Jeff McCarter of the Sevier County Sheriff's Department responded to the scene after receiving a call at 8:33 a.m. He found Jimmy Ray Tinker's body lying beside the road. Authorities believe Tinker, 63, of Sevierville was unintentionally struck by a piece of heavy equipment. They don't know what it was, but a large front-end loader and heavy trucks were operating at the time. Authorities think the incident occurred about 15 minutes before a fellow employee found Tinker's body. McCarter said he believes Tinker died of traumatic shock from the upper body, pelvic and back injuries. An autopsy will be performed. No one witnessed the death and the quarry was not operating at the time, said Road Superintendent Jonas Smelcer. There were two other employees at the quarry and two who were working underground. "(Tinker) was supposed to be working inside a building," said Smelcer, who added that Tinker worked for the highway department as a laborer for about 21 years. "He was going Monday to sign up for Social Security. He said he was going to retire this year." "This was purely an accident as far as we're concerned," said Sheriff Bruce Montgomery. "We've turned it over to the folks who reconstruct it." As required by law, the U.S. Department of Labor, Mine Safety and Health Inspectors, along with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the death. The sheriff said many locals knew Tinker. "He was very friendly," Montgomery said. "If you grew up in Sevier County, you knew him." Penny Bandy can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Investigators probe fatal Verona industrial accident

January 25, 2002, Murray Bishoff, Managing Editor, Published January 24, 2002 4:00 PM CST

Failure to contact coroner until after body cremated leads to planned in-service at hospital. Reports are in the process of being filed on the industrial accident last Friday that claimed the life of an Aurora man at a Verona factory. Paul Gifford, 31, was declared dead at Aurora Community Hospital following an accident involving heavy equipment at the BCP Ingredients factory, formerly Ducoa, within the previous two hours. A police report, prepared Tuesday by Verona Police Chief Tim Sellars, indicated that Gifford was working at BCP Ingredients on a skid loader, a large four-wheel drive rolling vehicle with brakes in the middle. It had a bucket in the front, and a blade had been attached to the vehicle. Sellars indicated it is believed Gifford was using the skid loader to clean ice off the roadway by the entrance to the plant. At one point the skid loader apparently had its bucket down, and the front wheels were lifted off the ground. The vehicle slid off the road and into a ditch. Gifford jumped, possibly hindered by the skid loader's door, and the machine rolled on top of where he landed. He was pinned with a wheel on top of him just above the waist. Sellars indicated it is thought approximately 30 minutes passed before another company employee discovered Gifford and called for help. Three calls reached the Lawrence County Sheriff's Department close together. According to Sheriff's Lieutenant Kevin Davis, the caller on the "911" line was calm and clear, requesting an ambulance and a larger wrecker. Another caller was agitated and much less clear. At 9:31 p.m., First Responders from Verona were called out, as well as rescue equipment from the Aurora Rural Fire Department. By pushing a direct line to St. John's Regional Health Center in Springfield, an ambulance was requested, and was subsequently dispatched from Aurora Community Hospital, arriving on the scene at 9:41 p.m. Firefighters called back to the Aurora Police Department at 9:46 p.m. requesting assistance from the city fire department. The first Lawrence County deputy arrived on the scene at 9:57 p.m., and the second deputy arrived at 9:59 p.m. Highway Patrol Trooper Steve Jones discovered the scene after leaving a nearby vehicular accident 12 minutes later. It was determined the accident occurred within the city limits of Verona, and so all the officers left, deferring the matter to the Verona police chief. Sellars, however, was in the midst of making an arrest. Everyone had left by 11:11 p.m. Sellars did not arrive at the scene until later, and wrote no report. He reconstructed his account with the help of Verona firefighters. Gifford remained conscious through the rescue effort. When he was freed, however, after about an hour in an effort that even involved blocking the railroad tracks with rescue equipment, Gifford's condition quickly deteriorated. He was declared dead from internal injuries and massive internal hemorrhaging at Aurora Community Hospital shortly after he was taken from the scene. A doctor at the emergency room at the hospital signed the death certificate. Organs were subsequently donated, and the body was taken to Peterson Funeral Home and cremated. Coroner Don Lakin was not contacted, and did not learn of the fatality until Tuesday. Aurora Community Hospital administrator Don Buchanan said hospital staff did not realize the coroner had to be present. He did not interpret state law that way, which calls for contacting the coroner in homicides, suicides, abortions, and when someone is not present. Blood was drawn, a standard procedure for accidental deaths, for subsequent tests, should they be deemed necessary. "We have people who come in and die in car wrecks all the time. I don't see this as any different. It's an accident," Buchanan said. He did not believe procedures were rushed due to organs being taken for donation, though he acknowledged there is a limited time during which some organs can be taken. "That's a call between the doctor involved and the family. I'm sure we tried to follow the wishes of the family," he said. Lakin was in touch with the hospital this week. He said state law says the coroner needs to be contacted in the case of "all unattended deaths and any traumatic deaths," whether they are accidental, such as a vehicle wreck, or matters that have potential legal ramifications. He provided Revised Missouri Statutes 58.451 which states the coroner must be contacted when a person dies as a result of "any unusual or suspicious manner." Even hospices, the coroner noted, contact him about impending deaths. "We are notified by law on deaths of all children up through age 18." he added. Lakin will be holding an in-service for hospital staff on procedures he wants followed, Buchanan said. An investigator for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was at the BCP plant on Tuesday developing a report on Gifford's death. OSHA spokesman Manuel Olmedo said one of the goals of the investigation would be to determine if it was appropriate to use a skid loader for removing ice. Olmedo said the investigator had up to 60 days to complete a report, which would then be filed with the OSHA regional office. That office in turn had up to 60 days to review the case. OSHA had up to six months to issue any citations of work place violations in the matter. Gifford is survived by one son, Paul, his wife, Rhonda Ragsdale, and two stepsons, Shon and Hayden Ragsdale. He is also survived by his mother and brother. Bob Miniger, vice president of human resources for BCP Ingredients, called Gifford's death "a loss and a tragedy. We're shocked and hurt by it." A number of safety meetings have been held at the plant this week. He commented, "We've got to learn from our process and be better. We've got to get our folks through this. We've got a widow out there and a couple children without a father. We're struggling with that." Miniger has offered condolences to the plant's workers, acknowledging the loss of a close co-worker who was well liked. "They have my sympathy and support." He hoped that helped as employees have been sharing their sentiments on the situation with each other. "Life will never be the same for them," Miniger said.

Novato man killed in accident at San Francisco demolition site

ASSOCIATED PRESS, January 16, 2002

SAN FRANCISCO - A Novato man was killed while operating heavy equipment at a demolition site in San Francisco. Clayton Bassett, 40, died Tuesday after the giant tractor he was operating tipped over, trapping him beneath, officials said. It took a crane several hours to pull the machinery off the man before firefighters could remove the body. The accident occurred during demolition work at a former public housing project. Police and Cal OSHA were called to the scene to investigate the cause of the accident.

Trash collector struck, killed

Associated Press

ANDERSON - A trash collector was struck and killed by a car Friday as he was working on his morning route, police said. Ronald J. Chapin, 60, of Anderson was pronounced dead at the scene of the 6 a.m. accident, said Coroner Marian Dunnichay. An autopsy was planned at Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie. Chapin and a co-worker at Manifold Refuse were northbound on a county road when Chapin pulled the garbage truck into the southbound lane to retrieve trash on his side of the truck. A southbound motorist saw the headlights in his lane and swerved to the west side of the roadway - where Chapin was collecting trash - and struck him, said Capt. Rick Garrett of the Madison County Sheriff's Department.

Man killed in La Porte industry accident

By: Patrick Reynolds, January 09, 2002

A Pasadena man was killed at his La Porte job site last week after being pinned between two large cargo containers, police said. On Dec. 31, the La Porte Police Department was called to the scene of an industrial accident at the Refrigeration Container Service on Highway 146. Responding officers found Saul Gomez, 21, dead at the scene, Chief of Police Richard E. Reff said. Gomez had been working between two containers when one was bumped by a forklift, police learned. The impact caused the container to slide, pinning Gomez between the two. La Porte Police detectives and the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office conducted an investigation of the scene and were continuing their investigation at last report. Gomez's family was notified through assistance of the Pasadena Police chaplain, Reff said. The refrigeration service is located near the Port of Houston's Barbour's Cut Terminal on the Houston Ship Channel.

Worker dies in accident on ranch north of city

Local News - Gillette, Wyoming Sunday, January 13, 2002

A worker died in an accident on a ranch north of Gillette on Saturday morning.

Douglas Lee Rockafellow, 62, of Clearmont was crushed between a front-end loader and a pickup when a Jim's Water Service loader rolled downhill into the pickup in a gravel pit at the Twenty Mile Land Co., according to Sheriff's deputies investigating the accident. Both the loader and pickup apparently weren't occupied. The Sheriff's report is not yet complete. Rockafellow was pronounced dead on arrival at Campbell County Memorial Hospital at 10:55 a.m., said County Coroner Tom Eekhoff. Firefighters and medics were sent to the gravel pit on the ranch, just west of Buckskin Mine on Highway 14-16 at 9:50 a.m., when Maxine Heigis, a secretary for Jim's Water Service, called 911 to report what had happened to Rockafellow. Two other men, who were not hurt, were working in the pit crushing scoria when Rockafellow was slammed between the two vehicles, she said. One of the men traveled three miles to the top of a hill before his cell phone would work to call for help, she said. Rockafellow apparently was standing with his back to the loader and probably didn't see it coming toward him, said Campbell County Emergency Manager David King. Sheriff's deputies still investigating have not yet determined what caused the loader to roll back. It probably happened because of brake failure or power loss, King said.

By The News-Record staff

Employee Run Over After Falling Off Trash Truck

Friday January 11 10:38 AM EST

A trash removal company employee has been seriously injured in an accident in Montgomery County. Police Department spokesperson Lucille Baur says the accident occurred at around 8:40 a.m. this morning in the area of Small Wood Drive and Ventnor Road in Glen Echo. Baur says an employee of Waste Management was hanging on to the outside of a collection truck when he somehow slipped and fell, and was run over by the truck. He was taken by ambulance to Suburban Hospital in very critical condition. Baur says one of the man's legs was almost completely amputated. The county's collision reconstruction team was on the scene of the accident, and patrol officers are continuing to investigate the circumstances. ABC 7 WJLA-TV

Baggage tug hits plane's propeller; worker hurt

By STEVE STONE, The Virginian-Pilot, January 10, 2002

NORFOLK -- A Norfolk International Airport worker was injured Wednesday night when the baggage cart tow tractor he was operating ran into the spinning propeller of a commuter plane. The man was taken to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, where he was being treated for head injuries, said Jack Goldhorn, a fire department spokesman. The man, whose name was not immediately released, was conscious. His wounds appeared to have resulted from being hit by debris from the cab of the tractor, not direct contact with the propeller, said Wayne Shank, the airport manager. The accident happened about 9 p.m. Shank said the plane, a two-engine, US Airways Express DeHavilland Dash 8, was parked at Gate 9 of the main terminal when the accident happened. There were no passangers aboard the 37-seat aircraft. Two workers were at the controls, preparing to move it to a maintenance hangar. The tug, operated by Delta Global Services, approached the airplane from behind, Shank said, and struck the left-side propeller. The impact shredded the cab and shattered the propeller, causing some other damage to the plane. But no one else was hurt, Shank said. ``We were very fortunate,'' he said. The accident would have been visible to anyone in the terminal who happened to be looking toward Gate 9, but it was unclear if anyone else saw the collision. The incident, which did not affect airport operations, will be investigated by agencies of the Federal Aviation Administration.

UPDATE, Firms Cleared over Quarry Death

By Jacqui Walls, PA News

Two quarry companies were today cleared of an alleged breach of health and safety regulations after a man was crushed to death by a dump truck. Andrew Johnson, 60, was killed when the truck reversed on to the Land Rover he was driving on a quarry site near Coalville, Leicestershire. Midland Quarry Products Ltd and Merriman Ltd were today found not guilty of breaching regulations under the Health, Safety and Welfare Act 1992 after a judge discharged a jury due to insufficient evidence to convict. Mr Johnson, of Llandovery, Wales, was a resident engineer at Cliffe Hill quarry in Ellistown where he died in May 1999. The accident happened on the access road to the site tip, when a vehicle travelling in the opposite direction to the dump truck signalled to the driver to reverse, Leicester Crown Court heard. It was alleged that the track was too narrow for the two vehicles to pass, so the dump truck driver manoeuvred backwards and in doing so, crushed the Land Rover behind. Ian Conway, unit manager of the quarry at the time of the accident, told the jury he did not believe there was a problem with the road leading up to the tip. I have never, in all my time at Cliffe Hill, been informed by anybody that there was a problem with that road, he said. Judge Hugh Mayor today accepted a defence application that there was insufficient evidence to answer and discharged the jury.

Wreck sends two people to hospital

By Bob Darden, Staff Writer, January 08, 2002

An early morning two-vehicle accident at the U.S. 82-49 intersection west of Greenwood sent two people to the hospital, said Greenwood Police Sgt. Lee Taylor said. They are Sharon Simpson of 230 S. Southwest Plaza of Indianola and Joe E. Willing of Route 2, Box 74C, Carrollton, he said. Both were drivers. There were no passengers. Simpson was treated at Greenwood Leflore Hospital and then released. Hospital officials had no report on Willing's condition this morning. The accident happened around 7:10 a.m. and delayed traffic a half hour to 45 minutes. According to police, Simpson, 32, was traveling east on U.S. 82 in her 1999 Isuzu sedan when she apparently lost control and left the roadway, Taylor said. Her car collided with a Malouf Construction Co. pickup that had been parked on the median. Willing, 52, an employee of Malouf Construction, was standing on the median beside the 1995 Ford pickup and was struck in the collision, Taylor said.

Millworker, 32, loses left leg in wake of accident

By Lisa Curdy - Daily World writer

1) Cergene Clark, 32, of Elma, was in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle today after his left leg was amputated just below the hip. The Mary's River Lumber Co. worker was hit by a forklift Wednesday. It was a tragic day at the mill. 2) Later in the day, benchman Carl Butterfield was killed when he fell 12 feet while changing a saw blade. An autopsy determined he died from a severed back due to a blunt impact to the torso, Coroner Ed Fleming said today. "Shell" Clark, who had worked at the mill since 1997, was struck by the forklift while walking along a road inside the mill compound. Millworkers have speculated that the forklift driver at first didn't even realize he had hit Clark. "A forklift is a very big and heavy machine," said Brad Kirkbride, the mill's chief operations officer. "It's very possible he may not have even known the forklift hit him." The manager declined to name the forklift driver, and said he hadn't talked to him personally. The mill uses forklifts to transport lumber around the yard, Kirkbride said. State Labor & Industries investigators were at the mill Wednesday and Thursday. "We have opened an inspection with Mary's River," L&I spokesman Bill Ripple said Thursday. "We're required to investigate all occupational fatalities. "We'll basically find out if the employer is doing what's required under the law." A longtime friend of Clark's, David Davis of Elma, said today he was at the hospital with him all day Wednesday. "I'm going up again in a few minutes. He's still in real bad shape." "Big" is how Davis described Clark. "He's 6 - 3, 375 pounds," Davis said. "He's very funny, very kind and very big hearted. He'd do anything for anybody." Clark and Davis both volunteer for the Twin Towers Search & Rescue unit, based out of Elma. The Search & Rescue unit was named before Sept. 11, and didn't help in New York, Davis explained. Clark's wife, Terri, has been devastated by her husband's accident, Davis said. An account for Clark's medical expenses has been set up at Simpson Credit Union in Elma and McCleary under the account name of Cergene Clark, Davis said.

Details

Parent Category: Incident Alert Archives

Category: Mobile Equipment, Forklift, Manlifts Alerts

Published: 10 September 2010

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.

Details

Parent Category: Incident Alert Archives

Category: Mobile Equipment, Forklift, Manlifts Alerts

Published: 10 September 2010

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