http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/11016/1/370/16 workers die per day, report says
Author: Mark Gruenberg
PINELLAS PARK, Fla. (PAI) — Just about two years ago, plumber Charles “Mike” Morrison was helping dig a trench in a Pinellas Park, Fla. But the trench had straight sides, not sloping sides, and B&B Plumbing didn’t construct a safety box for him to work in.
One wall collapsed on him — equal to 2,700 pounds of dirt — and buried him up to just beneath his arms, stepdaughter Michelle Lewis says. Twelve of his ribs plus his pelvis were broken and he was bleeding internally. Rescue teams were told to get out of the trench; it might collapse on them, too. B&B gave the dying man an oxygen mask to breathe into — and a shovel to dig himself out. He died, still trying to get out, in the trench.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined B&B $21,000 for five workplace safety violations.
They stand for five ways her stepfather should have survived, Lewis says.
Morrison was one of the 5,734 workers who died on the job in 2005, and OSHA’s fine against B&B is typical of its penalties when such deaths occur. Both trends are spotlighted in the AFL-CIO’s latest annual report on job safety and health nationwide.
“A combination of too few OSHA inspectors and low penalties makes the threat of an OSHA inspection hollow for too many employers,” the federation reported. With the low staff numbers, one inspector for every 63,670 workers, it would take OSHA 133 years to inspect each workplace in the U.S. just once.
FULL story at link.
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