Employees Killed by Falling Objects

Jackson, NJ (WorkersCompensation.com) – A gas station employee is dead after having a car fall on top of him, one of several employees reports indicate were killed recently after being struck by objects.

Police in Jackson, N.J., said a 26-year-old employee from Freehold, N.J., was killed at Gas Time, the gas station and auto body shop he worked at, when a car fell on him. The accident happened on Saturday, Jan. 6. Officials said he was working underneath the car at the time.

First responders performed CPR on the employee, and he was taken to HMH Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, N.J. He later died from his injuries, officials said. No more information was given about the employee’s identity or how the car fell.

Not far away, in Woodbridge, N.J., another employee was killed when he was hit by a loading ramp.

Around 5:30 a.m. on Dec. 28, a 38-year-old employee at Fenix Auto Parts in Woodbridge was underneath the ramp when it fell on him, Robert Brady, the Woodbridge Police Department’s chief law enforcement officer said.

"Apparently he was underneath the ramp and I don't know if a pin or stabilizer was removed, but at some point the ramp crushed him," said Brady. "We got there pretty immediately after it happened, but the man was pronounced deceased at the scene."

Police said OSHA is investigating the incident.

In Staunton, Va., an OSHA report found late last month that a Lowe’s worker killed in 2023 died after about two dozen boards fell on him.

The report found that 54-year-old Steven Houff died when he was restocking merchandise. Officials with the Virginia Occupational Safety and Health (VOSH) said he was about eight feet high on an elevated shelf when he “fell backward and struck his head on the shelfing unit on the opposite side of the aisle.”

VOSH said the employee suffered fractures and lacerations to his head. The VOSH report said Houff was re-stocking 24 15-foot-long melamine boards without a safety cable. VOSH requires the safety devices to ensure material doesn’t slide or fall. VOSH said the boards fell off the shelving and struck Houff, which resulted in his death.

VOSH found that Lowe’s failed to enforce its own written safety rule called “securing Vertically Stored Products,” and fined the company $14,270. Lowe’s is contesting the citation.

Lowe’s reported annual net income was more than $6.4 billion 2023, down from its annual net income from 2022 of $8.4 billion.

The case remains open, officials said.

And in Roanoke, Va., a family is looking for more answers about the death of Kenny Oakey at a shipyard.

On Jan. 2, WAVY reported that Oakey’s family wants explanations about what happened to him. Oakey was a machinist at Colonna’s Shipyard. On Sept. 30 of last year, Oakey died of blunt force trauma. Officials say he fell off of a ladder.

His family said his injuries are too extensive to be from a five or six foot fall. When he died he had 11 broken ribs, two fractures to his spine, a crushed collarbone and bruises on his neck, as well as massive brain damage.

“They told us that they had to operate on his brain on two spots, and (the surgeon) said he’s never had to operate on somebody’s brain in two spots,” his brother Roy Oakey told WAVY. “It’s the first time he’s ever done that.”

Roy Oakey believes the severity and number of injuries are too intensive to be from a fall.

“It’s no way he fell from a five or seven foot ladder,” Roy Oakey said. “Somebody said they was moving a piece of equipment out the water and they dropped it on top of him.”

He says the family was told by one source that Oakey was found responsive, laying on the barge by himself.

An incident report from OSHA notes a safety inspection at the shipyard two days after Oakey’s death. However, the case remains open as the investigation continues.

“I want the truth to come out,” Roy Oakey said. “I know we can’t bring our brother back. It’s going to be a long time before we get over this.”

The family said they have hired an attorney to investigate the matter and to get the truth from the shipyard.

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