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…
Notes: Seven of the 21 deaths listed here this week were from falls. Hard to believe. Gravity is not a recent discovery. “Only 21 deaths were listed this week. That’s all I could find in the media. But an average of 14 workers are killed on the job every day. That’s 98 per week. Sometimes…
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…
Corrections officer at Oak Park Heights dies after helping colleague attacked by inmate Oak Park Heights, MN — A corrections officer at Oak Park Heights state prison died Monday after rushing to help another officer who was being assaulted by an inmate. Joseph Parise, 37, was one of several officers who responded at noon to…
CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENT KILLS WORKER AT SELMON EXTENSION TAMPA, FL – A Land o’ Lakes man died Saturday (Sept. 15) while working at the Selmon West Extension project, the Tampa Police Department said. Kadri Elmazi, 68, of Land O’ Lakes, died at the scene. Mr. Elmazi was operating a “roller” machine on a dirt embankment when the machine toppled,…
Firefighter dies after propane tank explodes in Tilford Rapid City, SD — A local firefighter died Friday afternoon while fighting a structure fire and searching for an unaccounted for person during a blaze in the Tilford area. As the structure burned, the fire moved to a nearby propane tank, causing it to explode. A firefighter…
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…
I took a week off compiling this list. No change in the deadly work that American workers do, except that workers have fewer rights than they did two weeks ago — especially public employees. In other news, the Senate Appropriations Committee passed an appropriations bill requiring OSHA to start listing names of workers killed on their…