2015 DEATHS ON THE JOB
Since October, the beginning of the federal government’s operating year, the following deaths on the job have occurred in the area overseen by the Cincinnati OSHA office:
• two men killed after falling off a Butler County water tower in Reily Twp. last October;
• a man electrocuted at Cohen, a metal recycling plant in West Carrollton, also in October;
• an individual who tripped and fell during a fire drill and died from medical complications during surgery in Cincinnati;
• Manuel Aquino, 70, of West Chester Twp., killed in March after he was trapped by the equipment he was working on, a front-end loader, at Art's Rental Equipment in Sharonville
SOURCE: Cincinnati Area OSHA former Director Bill Wilkerson (Wilkerson has retired).
A third company has been cited in the region since the beginning of March for safety violations that led to the death of workers on the job.
Federal work safety investigators say in each case, the fatal accidents could have been prevented if proper safety practices were followed.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration released the findings of its investigation into the deaths of two men painting a water tower in Butler County’s Reily Twp. last October. Faulty and missing safety gear are being blamed for their deaths. Seventeen serious safety violations were found, leading OSHA to propose fines of $199,000 against the company, which can be contested.
“Making sure protective equipment is in use and working properly is a common-sense way to save lives and prevent injuries,” said Ken Montgomery, OSHA’s new area director in Cincinnati, in a written statement. “Companies that put their workers dangerously high above the ground must provide protection to stop their falls. We are seeing a disturbing trend in deaths and injuries among workers on communications and other types of towers that could have been prevented.”
Altogether, seven workers have died in various types of industrial accidents in the Cincinnati, Dayton and Springfield areas since October 2014, the beginning of the federal budget year, according to the Cincinnati OSHA office. Most recently, Manuel Aquino, 70, of West Chester Twp., was killed in March after he was trapped by the equipment he was working on, a front-end loader, at Art’s Rental Equipment in Sharonville.
While inspecting Metal Shredders Inc. in West Carrollton, a subsidiary of Middletown-based metal recycling company Cohen, OSHA found safety violations involving electrical work practices. A maintenance worker died there last year. OSHA proposed fining the company $115,000.
“I think we’ve been pretty consistent with our enforcement,” said Scott Allen, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Labor’s regional office in Chicago. OSHA is a division of the labor department. “I think we’ve been stepping up outreach.”
“We’ve been putting more emphasis on personal loss.”
For the 2014 budget year, OSHA investigated 46 fatal work accidents statewide, down from 48 in 2012, but a major increase from 38 work-related deaths in 2011, the former OSHA Area Director Bill Wilkerson previously told this newspaper. Wilkerson has since retired.
When OSHA investigates a deadly accident, it searches the entire facility for safety hazards and not just the hazards that may have led to death, Allen said. The amount of fines charged consider the company’s work safety history and size, he added.
Florjan Nilaj, 25, and Gazmend Vukaj, 40, were painting in October a 123-foot-tall water tower when the scaffold’s hoist failed, and a nylon suspension rope broke. As the scaffold collapsed, the two men fell to their deaths, according to OSHA.
The federal investigation found that if the men’s employer, V & T Painting LLC of Michigan, had provided the painters with required equipment to stop their falls, they might have survived. A company official with V & T Painting declined comment when reached by phone.
Federal inspectors identified 17 serious safety violations at the Reily Twp. site. There were 13 more serious violations found at a second site in Hamilton, where the company was also contracted by the Southwest Ohio Regional Water District to paint water towers, according to the government.
Scaffolds used by V & T Painting were not designed by a competent person; bolts were not installed correctly; and damaged wire ropes, slings, electrical cords and other faulty equipment were in use, OSHA found. The company also did not inspect rigging equipment and scaffolds before use or do site inspections, and it did not train workers about fall protection equipment and standards, according to the results of the agency’s investigation.
Fatalities caused by falls from elevation continue to be a leading cause of death for construction workers, accounting for 279 of the 806 construction fatalities recorded nationwide in 2012, Allen said.
OSHA is encouraging companies to participate in the upcoming National Safety Stand-Down to prevent construction falls by planning a safety activity, talking to workers about how to prevent falls, and providing training. The event is from May 4 to 15.
Businesses can use the website, www.osha.gov/StopFallsStandDown/index.html, to plan an event; obtain a certificate of participation; and access free education and training resources, fact sheets and outreach materials in English and Spanish.
OSHA provides free on-site consultations to small employers, as well as other compliance assistance, educational materials and training. The Ohio On-site Consultation Program phone number is 800-282-1425.
This newspaper reported last year that government mandates and underfunding mean OSHA spends more time investigating accidents than preventing them, according to the nonprofit Center for Effective Government in Washington, D.C. Based on current staffing and funding levels, it would take the U.S. OSHA 100 years or more to inspect every facility they're supposed to in the U.S., officials for the Center for Effective Government said.
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