Workers Killed in Industrial Accidents

Newburgh, NY (WorkersCompensation.com) – It was a bad week to be a worker, as four men are dead from industrial accidents. 

In Newburgh, New York, a construction worker died on Thursday when he was crushed some machinery, officials said. 

Police said Lungo Oleg, of Brooklyn, was killed when a yellow boom cane was being operated off of a red truck, when someone the crane malfunctioned. The worker became trapped. 

Authorities said Oleg was pinned in a knuckle boom being used to offload steel beams, said Lt. Peter G. Talarico, of the Town of Newburgh Police. Oleg was an employee of Chesakle Enterprises of East Jewett, he said.

"While there appears to be no criminality, OSHA will be assisting police with an ongoing investigation," he said. 

Talarico said the Town of Newburgh code compliance and the Orange County Medical Examiner’s office were assisting with the investigation. 

In Atlanta, a construction worker died after a stairwell fell on him. 

Atlanta Fire Rescue said their crews responded to a call for an accident at an apartment complex that was under renovation on Tuesday afternoon. When crews arrived, the man was dead, officials said.

Darwin Maldonado, the supervisor at the scene, identified the worker as Ariel Bonilla.  Maldonado said he and Bonilla were part of a two-man crew was removing the stairwell from one of the apartment buildings. Maldonado was operating a forklift when the accident happened, while Bonilla was welding. 

"We were removing the stairs on the platform. He went up the middle of the platform to remove the second stairs when all suddenly [it] collapsed and everything fell on him," Maldonado told 11 Alive News. Maldonado said he heard he collapse but didn’t see it. When he came back to see what happened, Bonilla was pinned under the stairs, Atlanta Fire Commander Shawn Manns said. 

"It was pretty horrific," Manns explained. " He was under the steps, taking them down when the staircase just collapsed...pancake on top of his arm." 

In Church Point, La., a 22-year-old Rayne man was killed when he fell into a piece of meat packing equipment. 

Authorities said Todd Wheeler, of Rayne, was an employee of the Richard Cajun Food Corp.’s Church Point plant. 

In a news release, Church Point Police Chief Dale Thibodeaux said rescue crews were called to the scene just before 1:30 p.m. on Thursday.

“The victim fell into a piece of equipment, which caused his death,” Thibodeaux said. “The machine was immediately cut off soon as another worker noticed that Wheeler was no longer at his workstation. Wheeler was pulled into the piece of machinery, but other parts of the piece of equipment prevented the victim from completely entering the piece of machinery.” 

Officials said they are investigating the incident. 

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 4,764 fatal work injuries in the U.S. in 2020, a 10.7 percent decrease over 2019’s 5,333. The fatal work injury rate fell to 3.4 fatalities per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers, from 3.5 in 2019. 

The fatalities in 2020 represents the lowest annual number since 2013. Workers in construction, transportation and material moving, as well as extraction occupations accounted for nearly half of all the fatal occupations workplace deaths. 

According to the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, on average more than 100 workers died every week in 2019, or about 15 deaths per day. About 20 percent of workers fatalities in private industry in 2019 were in construction – or about one in every five worker deaths for the year. 

Fall protection in construction was the most frequently sited standard violation by OSHA, the agency said. Among the top 10 most frequent violation were hazard communication, respiratory protection, scaffolding in construction, ladders in construction, control of hazardous energy, powered industrial trucks, fall-protection, eye and face protection and machinery and machine guarding. 

OSHA said that historically, falls are the leading cause of fatalities in construction, and account for about one-third of all fatalities in the industry. In 2013, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that out of 828 total fatalities in the industry, 291 were fatal falls to a lower level.

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