A newsletter of workplace safety and labor issues
Excuse the length of this depressing exercise, but I’ve been away for a couple of weeks and unlike me, workplace death takes no vacation. The usual falls, machinery deaths, vehicle accidents. Also several sanitation workers lost their lives over the past several week, as well as retail workers shot on the job. From Alabama to…
Not a good week to be a worker in Indiana (California and Florida weren’t so hot either.) Construction worker killed in accident near Willmar Holland Township, MN — A man tiling a field in central Minnesota died on Friday morning in a workplace accident. The construction company employee was installing drainage tile in the field…
2 Mississippi police officers dead, suspect in custody after shootout BROOKHAVEN, Miss. — Two police officers were shot and killed following an early Saturday morning confrontation in Mississippi, authorities said. Warren Strain of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety said at a news conference that the officers were called to a house in the city…
Man run over while overhauling bus at Chicago Heights junkyard Chicago, IL — A man died after being run over by a bus he was overhauling Friday afternoon at a junkyard in south suburban Chicago Heights. Officers responded at 2:17 p.m. to the incident at Wilkins Rebuilders Supply, 171 E. 12th St., according to Chicago Heights…
Death Toll in California’s Carr Wildfire Raises to 7 as Utility Worker Dies CLEARLAKE, Calif. — A utility worker was killed near a Northern California wildfire as crews working in sweltering conditions battled multiple blazes, including twin fires that exploded in size and forced hundreds more to evacuate rural communities, officials said Sunday. The Pacific…
2 firefighters killed as blaze rages in northern California REDDING, CALIF. —The National Park Service reports a second firefighter has died while battling the Ferguson Fire in Mariposa County. On Sunday morning, Capt. Brian Hughes of the Arrowhead Interagency Hotshots was killed. According to the National Park Service, 33-year-old Hughes was on the east side of…
SOUTH SIOUX CITY, NE — A man who suffered severe burns when a grain elevator exploded in South Sioux City in May has died. A representative from Meyer Brothers Funeral Homes confirmed Thursday that Maurice C. Kellogg, 55, of Dakota City, was the man injured in the explosion, which occurred May 29 at a grain elevator owned…
Too many workers are dying in the states of Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, according to OSHA Region VII, and employers need to do something about it. An OSHA alert has gone out from the region, “seeking to stem a recent increase in workplace fatalities in Kansas, Missouri, and ebraska.” The press release cites “an increase…
Houston tow truck driver killed after wrecker stolen HOUSTON, TX — Police say a tow truck driver in Houston whose wrecker was stolen moments after unloading a repossessed car was killed when the alleged thief ran him over. Houston assistant police chief James Jones said Friday the suspected thief ultimately crashed the tow truck in neighboring…
Man dies in pressroom accident at Pennsylvania newspaper ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A contractor (Ruben Ocasio-Fernandez, 32)became trapped underneath a piece of machinery that was being removed from the pressroom of a Pennsylvania newspaper, suffering fatal injuries.The Lehigh County coroner says the man became trapped at The Morning Call in Allentown on Tuesday afternoon. Crews have…