Construction Season Means Worker Deaths on Highways

Safety at Work

Kanawha County, WV (WorkersCompensation.com) – As roadwork begins across the country, workplace injuries and deaths of roadwork construction employees are ramping up.

In West Virginia, the southbound lanes of the West Virginia Turnpike have reopened this week after a fatal accident took the life of a construction worker. The employee was hit while working on asphalt near mile-marker 92.5.

Officials said a tractor-trailer was traveling on the turnpike and swerved to avoid a dump truck in the work zone, but the trailer of the vehicle veered into the work zone and struck the victim. Officials said the tractor trailer killed James Harper, 23, of Bleckley. Harper had been patching a hole in the highway when he was killed according to reports.

State police arrested Anvar Sabirov, 28, of Rego Park, N.Y., for failing to get into the correct lane in the work zone just south of Charleston on Monday, April 14. A video included in the criminal complaint shows that Sabirov had his head down as he was driving through the work zone. Police said he testified that he was not on his cell phone.

Cpl. R. Phillips, a trooper investigating the death, wrote, “this officer believes that defendant was distracted while driving through the active work zone, looked up, sees the large dump truck with asphalt, swerves left to avoid striking the truck but struck the victim with his trailer.”

Investigators have seized the suspect’s phone. He’s being held in the South-Central Regional Jail, officials said.

In Pennsylvania, a construction worker was killed Monday morning in a three-vehicle crash in Cumberland County.

Hector M. Hernandez, 56, of York, was killed in the crash, officials said, while Ricky F. West, 63, also of York, was injured. Both were taken to Penn State Holy Spirit Hospital in Cumberland County, where Hernandez later died.

Officials said the right lane of State Route 581 was closed for construction at the time of the crash. Around 4:40 a.m., a FedEx double semitruck was driving in the left lane then drifted into the work zone and hit the back of a construction vehicle. The semitruck then hit a third vehicle and debris from the crash damaged a fourth vehicle.

At the time, construction crews were picking up cones at the end of their shift, Fritzi Schreffler, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said. Hernandez was in a basket attached to the construction vehicle.

The driver of the tractor-trailer, Fares Amri of Glenolden, Penn., was not injured in the crash. It’s not clear if charges had been filed against him.

Schreffler said overnight work is inherently dangerous as speeds increase, visibility decreases, and bright lights can cause distractions.

And in late March, a 45-year-old father was killed while he was working along the freeway in Buena Park, Cal.

Officials said Jose Mantecon was working on the freeway when he was struck by a pick-up truck in the early morning hours of March 24. He The employee was taken to the hospital, but he did not survive.

"Part of me left with him," his mother, Vivian Mantecon, said. "I don't know what my life is going to be from now on. Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthdays. It's never going to be the same."

A GoFundMe account was set up to support his family. As of April 17, the account had raised more than $85,000.

"As a subcontractor for Caltrans, Jose was doing what he always did: showing up, working hard, and providing for his family when the unthinkable happened," wrote Amber Reyes in the fundraising campaign on behalf of the Mantecon family. "Carla and the kids now face a future without their anchor. In addition to grieving this heartbreaking loss, they are also faced with the financial weight that comes with losing their primary provider. Carla recently launched a new small business, and while she is doing everything she can to care for her family, she needs our help."

Officials said the deaths are a reminder to use extreme caution when traveling through construction zones.

National Work Zone Safety Awareness Week, a week set aside to increase awareness over safety rules put in place to protect construction workers and drivers, starts next week.

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