Unfortunately the Poughkeepsie Journal doesn't release names of those charged with misdemeanors. Now thats a stupid policy! This scum bag just couldn't wait and chose to ignore the road closure. The law just isn't good enough in this state when it comes to this type of crime.
There should be at least a minimum of 2 days in jail , and I don't know, say like 30 Points on your license, if you ignore safety officers or workers in the road who are directing traffic or closing lanes.
Better yet just kill* the scummers, these selfish bastards are impeding on our air supply.
Police: Man angered by road closure strikes firefighter with car LAGRANGE — A LaGrange firefighter was injured today, when an angry motorist allegedly hit him with his car as firefighters were blocking the roadway while responding to an accident.
Members of the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office responded along with the LaGrange Fire Department for a reported one-vehicle personal injury auto accident on Noxon Road.
While investigating the accident, fire department workers alerted an on-scene deputy of a problem with a motorist.
Investigation revealed a 41-year-old man living in the area had argued with firefighters who were trying to close Noxon Road to traffic. He was apparently angry at being inconvenienced by the road closure, and allegedly sped past firefighters, striking one firefighter’s arm with the side of his car, causing minor injury.
He was arrested and charged with misdemeanor obstructing governmental administration, misdemeanor assault and failure to comply with lawful order — a violation.
He was released on an appearance ticket and is due back in court later this month.
Post the name! What good is this story if this jacka** cannot be ridiculed and looked down upon by his friends, family and neighbors. I myself have had to stop traffic and for the most part it was to the benefit of those that were being stopped. You know keeping them out of harms way. In todays society we have so many people who believe that they are all thats important. I know I'm just a construction worker telling you not to drive under multi-ton loads being lifted by monster cranes in NYC, I can see how insignificant I must be to you. But to not obey a firefighter at the scene of an accident, who is there to help someone in need, shows how despicable a human being this unnamed individual must be. I say if they think they are soooooo important that they will decide that absolutely no one else matters, the Poughkeepsie Journal shouldn't be holding back on the name. Give it up, be journalists.
60 Minutes at 7 EST will be featuring a story about Combustible dust, and FX will have a 30 Days with Morgan Spurlock repeat at 11:00 EST, of him trying to make it as a rookie coal miner.
This is a good example of why tower cranes should be thoroughly examined, and more then just once or twice a year. Tower crane examinations require time and contractors are going to have to get used to it. - anonymous crane operator
A story for Scott
This crane operator, who after the deadly crane collapse in New York on May 30th., decided when he climbed his 450ft. tower crane that the first thing he was going to do was to check out the bolting system, what he found was distressing, heres part of the story, from Vertikal.net (6/2/08):
Don't put off till tomorrow, what you should do today
Before going to work at 5:15am I watched the news on the most recent NY crane accident and it was immediately apparent to me that the Slew-ring assembly had failed.
The first thing I did when I got to the top of the 450ft (136m) of 2003, tower crane was check the slew-ring bolts with a 2lb beater using minimum force. There are two rows of bolts, each row having 59.
With the crane balanced off, I started with the top row (slew bearing) and when I struck the third bolt it moved (loose), I continued checking and when I came to the 28th bolt it broke in two! I then went back to the bolt that had movement and decided to remove it for inspection, which revealed a severe crack at the same location as the one that sheared off.
Because of finding two bolts with a similar failure and the likelihood that there could be many more, I immediately put the crane out of operation. The manufacturer has been contacted and we're trying to arrange for a "Factory Engineer" to come out and thoroughly examine ALL the bolts, and if needed oversee the replacement of ALL slew-ring bolts. Which is the only certain solution!
I will admit that if not for this most recent event, I would not have gone through the extra effort/procedure needed to properly inspect a slew-ring. The typical way it's done by operators and inspectors is either just a "visual" while climbing through the slew-ring, or just a tap with a carpenters hammer, relying on your sense of sound to hear a difference between bolts.
The problem with this is that without balancing off the crane to ensure that the load on the bearing is distributed equally, you can't get a true sense that the bolts are equally tightened and torqued to the proper specifications. And that goes for mast bolts too!
Bottom line, it just doesn't tell the whole story, especially considering the potential for loss of life and property damage. These common, time-saving methods are just not enough for what's at risk. Like the old saying goes,” don’t put off till tomorrow, what you should do today"!
This is a good example of why tower cranes should be thoroughly examined, and more then just once or twice a year. Tower crane examinations require time and contractors are going to have to get used to it.
I was recently talking to a third party tower crane Inspector and he boasted that he can inspect a crane in three hours, easy money! In general a good tower crane thorough inspection should take at "least" six to eight hours (depending on configuration). And with all due respect to OSHA and others, "they are the Jack of all trades and master at none", and cannot be expected to have detailed knowledge of tower cranes.
Mugford, a state Department of Transportation employee, died after being struck by a limousine while working on Route 7 in Norwalk. Three years later, Kathy Mugford just wants to spare one family the pain that her family suffered.
And, thanks to a bill recently signed into law by Gov. M. Jodi Rell, it's a prayer that might be answered.
This week, Rell announced that she'd signed off on legislation that creates stiffer penalties for drivers who speed and commit other traffic violations in work zones. The new law also creates a Highway Work Zone Safety Advisory Council, which will make ongoing recommendations to improve safety in work zones. The law takes effect October 1. Kathy Mugford has long known the dangers that DOT workers like her husband face from speeding traffic, and has been pushing for the legislation for nearly a year. "I can't tell you how relieved I was," she said when she learned that the struggle was finally over. "If it helps if one person, it will be worth it."
The highway safety bill was drafted last summer by the Connecticut Employees Union Independent and the Legislature's Transportation Committee. The employees union represents 4,500 state maintenance workers and about 1,500 of them work for the DOT. The law creates two new offenses — endangerment of a highway worker and aggravated endangerment of a highway worker.
Offenses that would fall under the category of endangerment include speeding in a work zone and failure to obey traffic signals in a work zone. The aggravated endangerment charge applies to offenses in which a worker is seriously injured or killed.
A conviction of endangerment of a highway worker carries a fine of up to $1,000 and an aggravated endangerment conviction would result in a $5,000 fine, if the worker is injured, and $10,000 if the worker is killed. The fines are in addition to any other penalty authorized by law.
Lets see that spread to all street workers in every state. Nice job Gov. Rell.
“Shawn’s back was towards the furnace when they were picking up their tools and there was a blast. Some say Shawn got up and started walking towards the door and then there was a second, more intense blast. Shawn didn’t die instantly. He laid on building floor while the aluminum dust burnt through his flesh and muscle tissue. The breaths that he took burnt his internal organs, and the blast took his eyesight. Shawn was still conscious and asking for help… And the two things that I can always remember and that never leave are his last words, ‘I’m in a world of hurt,’ and his last breaths.” Tammy Miser Congressional hearing on combustible dust
Please excuse the commercial, I have no control of that
Tammy Miser has created a tremendous amount of awareness to the senseless deaths that occur due to the absence of OSHA standards with regard to explosive dust, the petition on the right hand side of this site is her idea. She runs the blog Weekly Toll and the USMWF.ORG - United Support & Memorial For Workplace Fatalities and she has testified in front of Congress. Word is that Tammy will be appearing this Sunday night on 60 Minutes lead story, "Is Enough Done To Stop Explosive Dust?", the show will feature Carolyn Merritt, former CSB chair, Ed Foulke (OSHA) and Rep. George Miller
At least 13 people might still be alive today if industry and the government’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration did more to stop dust explosions in America’s factories, says a former government safety official.
Carolyn Merritt, former head of the government's Chemical Safety Board, talks to 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley about the deadly problem of combustible dust this Sunday, June 8, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
This bill would require the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue rules regulating combustible industrial dusts, like sugar dust, that can build up to hazardous levels and explode. In early February the Imperial Sugar refinery in Port Wentworth, Georgia, exploded, killing 13 workers and severely injuring many more. OSHA and the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, which have launched a major investigation into the Imperial Sugar explosion, have concluded that the explosion was caused by combustible sugar dust. In 2006, following a series of fatal combustible dust explosions, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board conducted a major study of combustible dust hazards. It identified 281 combustible dust incidents between 1980 and 2005 that killed 119 workers, injured 718 others, and extensively damaged industrial facilities. OSHA has known about these dangers for years, but has failed to act. Even after the Chemical Safety Board urged OSHA in 2006 to issue rules controlling dust hazards, OSHA has never offered any indication that it is planning to issue such rules without being required to do so by law.
Take a look at the other stories I have done on this (I know for a fact that OSHA, The Dept. Of Labor, Senate and Congress have read them), a lot of sites and bloggers have helped spread the word and raise awareness. Please forgive me for not mentioning them all right now, I need sleep too.
Tammy Miser is helping workers, I admire her commitment and it shows the power of bloggers to change the world.
Construction workers deserve to come home after a hard day's work, healthy and alive.-Mark H. Ayers, President of the Building & Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO
WASHINGTON, May 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The recent spate of construction worksite fatalities - including a fatal tower crane collapse in New York City today and a disturbing trend of construction fatalities in Las Vegas, NV - have raised public awareness of the real dangers faced daily by those who work in the construction industry. Our hearts go out to the grieving families, friends and neighbors who loved and cherished those workers and bystanders killed in these accidents. All of us who work within the construction trades mourn with them.
Yet tomorrow, another three or four workers could be killed working in the construction industry. And two the next day. And four the next. The sad fact is an average of four construction workers die on the job every day in our nation. In 2006, 1,282 construction workers died from injuries they sustained on the job.
Yet, almost every death on a construction site is preventable.
For those of us working in the construction safety and health field, there is no such thing as an accident, only a preventable injury. Hazards abound on construction sites, but many hazards can be reduced or eliminated. Workers in a trench can be buried alive - if the walls of the trench are not properly supported. An ironworker, so comfortable walking on a steel beam 100 feet above ground that he treats it like a sidewalk, can slip on a thin patch of dried mud or a stray bolt and fall to his death - if he is not secured with a safety harness. Even a housepainter on a ladder 10 feet above the ground can just as easily suffer a fatal fall - if he or she is carrying tools up the ladder, is using a broken ladder, or one that will not support their weight. Electrocutions, being crushed by equipment or struck by an object are just some of the other dangers.
Construction workers suffer more than 22 percent of all work-related deaths, but these workers make up only 8 percent of the workforce.
Of course, every worker who is injured does not die. More than 400,000 construction workers are injured annually; some result in a career-ending or even permanent disability. But not every injury is obvious. Wet cement, which burns the skin of a worker who doesn't have protective clothing, can go unnoticed because the caustic agents eat away at skin with little pain. A cement burn damages muscle tissue and can even require amputation of limbs.
Injuries aren't the only hazards. Occupational illnesses, usually from exposure to hazardous compounds, make take years to develop, but they have long-term health consequences. Dust from cutting bricks or concrete block, welding fumes, and paint vapors contain all the components necessary for numerous lung ailments and lung cancer. Even the guy cutting your granite countertop is at risk for inhaling silica, which causes the lung disease silicosis.
The Governing Board of Presidents of the Building & Construction Trades Department will meet next week to examine this issue in greater detail and formulate recommendations designed to effectively improve jobsite safety in the construction industry.
Training and education of workers in safety and health measures is crucial. So is training and educating the supervisory personnel and employers who control the site to ensure that safety does not fall off the daily checklist. And OSHA must step up its enforcement of job safety rules and regulations.
Thousands of families are depending on industry stakeholders, as well as employers and well-trained workers, to look out for each other. Construction workers deserve to come home after a hard day's work, healthy and alive.
"You can be safe, you can do everything you can do, but construction is a very complex and dangerous business."- Donald trump
My heart goes out to the families affected
This accident is completely different from the accident on March 15th., this crane was not being 'jumped', it was fully inspected and in service. There was no load on the crane, nothing fell and hit the crane. It just toppled at the "turn table" from the weight of the crane, boom and counterweights. This should not happen, ever.
Commenting to a reporter from the New York Times on Friday Louis J. Coletti, who is president of the Building Trades Employers' Association, said "you've seen some new regulation put into place by the City, but today we're talking about an incident where every regulation has been followed."
Acting Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri said he ordered the suspensions even though the city hasn't found any similarities between the cause of yesterday's accident and a March 15 collapse that killed seven.
In addition, the city plans to spend $4 million to hire about 20 ``highly specialized engineers'' who will have the authority to change practices on ``high-risk'' jobs involving cranes, concrete pouring and excavation, LiMandri said.
``They will make recommendations as they see fit,'' LiMandri told reporters a block from the Upper East Side site where a crane collapsed, killing two construction workers and seriously injuring a third. ``Once that goes into effect, we will not wait for a report.''
The engineers are part of a $9.3 million program budgeted for the department that will pay for 63 new engineers and inspectors. The plan was adopted after the March 15 accident, at 303 East 51st St., the site of numerous prior complaints from neighbors.
In the past eight years, New York City has experienced an unprecedented construction boom, with $29 billion of building forecast for 2009, an 83 percent increase from $16.4 billion in 2000, according to the New York Building Congress, an association of developers, architects and vendors.
Donald Trump chimes in at ABC News for '20/20' interview (5/30/08) :
"I'm one of the biggest builders in the world, and I tell you I hate to walk under construction sites," Trump said. "You can be safe, you can do everything you can do, but construction is a very complex and dangerous business."
New York's trendy SoHo district is the home of one of Trump's current hotel construction sites, which received one of New York City's 128 crane safety violations this year. "We built a series of many, many buildings from 72nd Street all the way down the Hudson River, and we never had a problem, and yet we did have one problem in SoHo," Trump said. "I've got a great track record, one of the best, but it's a dangerous business." (continued) "I'm doing buildings elsewhere, and many cranes are being shipped over to other parts of the world," Trump said, noting that he is also working on a new building in Dubai. "So I'm not sure if New York City is getting the best cranes, but to have a crane topple the way it did in New York City is an amazing thing." (continued) "They are big, they are strong, they are powerful, they can lift tremendous payloads, and they are dangerous," said Trump. "If a crane is an inch off, it gets dangerous. And you know you're talking about a crane that can go up 60 stories."
This time the crane maintenance is being questioned, according to speculation by Gordon Gibb at Lawyers and Settlements:
The crane, one of dozens in New York City that have been pressed into service during the current building boom in the bustling metropolis, was erected April 20th and 21st. It has been reported that city inspectors shut the crane down on two separate occasions for safety reasons, however those problems were believed to have been unrelated to the accident yesterday.
Rather, the focus is turning to a metal plate that resides at the base of the turntable underneath the cab. On May 16th 2007—just over a year prior to the fateful accident yesterday—a worker discovered a crack in the metal plate of that same crane, which at the time was being used to put up a building at 46th Street in New York. Work was promptly halted until the turntable could be replaced.
Investigators are now trying to determine just what became of that broken turntable from last year. Could it have been repaired, and put back into service? That's the million-dollar question being asked right now.
I had to wait until today to get this story out, I was a few blocks away when this happened, many of my co-workers went over to the site and the story was constantly changing, even when I got home. It gives you such a terrible feeling when you hear this type of news at work. You know it could be a good friend or a casual acquaintance. You know it could be you. I just couldn't write about this yesterday.
Inspectors from DC, Hawaii and Boston have noticed and pledged reinspections of tower cranes. according to KGMB9, Hawaii:
"One of the things we decided when we got in this morning after we heard the news is let’s send our inspectors out and let's inspect all the tower cranes," said James Hardway, Hawaii Department of Labor.
"Hawaii is one of a handful of states that requires an extensive certification of operators," said Hardway.
Construction cranes in Hawaii are usually rented from one company and set up by another. There are fewer than a dozen companies in the country that are capable of the job. The main company used in Hawaii is Northwest Tower Crane Service.
"There is an inherent risk. It's listed as one of the riskiest jobs in the United States," said Tammy Hardy, Northwest Tower Crane Service Inc. (continued) As for what caused the New York crane to fall, there is plenty of speculation.
"Probably shoddy oversight by the government regulators," said Hardway.
Which Hawaii is working hard to never let happen here.
While they scramble, they neglect the need for more drastic changes
Whatever the case, there definitely needs to be some drastic overhauls, I call 311 reporting sites with major violations, I have seen stuff being raised over pedestrians heads on some sites, smaller sites, nonunion sites, without basic safety necessities, and have offered to send the pictures from my phone to the DOB and they do not have the technology? That is unacceptable!
Only through acts of God have more people not been killed in New York recently. I was watching a (safety shed) scaffold being erected in midtown New York with steel I-Beams being lifted directly over pedestrians and called and waited and no one showed within the hour I waited. Imminent death to the public and it continues every single day in New York. The entire reregulating of the DOB only adds buildings over 10 stories to their scope of hard lined oversight. Meanwhile you have undocumented workers throwing asbestos into the streets of NYC in full public view and nothing is done.
Top story right now on all the cable news stations: another deadly crane collapse in NYC that reportedly has claimed two lives. (Update: 1 dead, two seriously injured.) The NYPost has extensive coverage. NY’s Fox 5 is livestreaming. The accident is the second in 2 1/2 months in NY and comes on the heels of crane regulation revisions by the city just this week. Miami-Dade County is in the middle of heated debate and litigation over post-accident rules. Maryland, Washington, and Indiana are also drafting tighter regs.
It would be helpful for journalists to report what the background rates on crane-related deaths and injuries are. Also, the coverage should distinguish between types of accidents (human error, mechanical failure, etc.). Here’s one report on offshore crane safety that covers 1995-98. Here’s an ABC report with a little more info on stats and causes, among which they mention illegal alien labor and corporate short cuts:
At least 43 people died while working construction in New York in 2006, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, up 87 percent from the year before when 23 people died.
Across the United States, construction ranks as the most dangerous industry, representing about 20 percent of all work-related fatalities, according to federal statistics.
Deaths rose from 1,131 in 2003 to 1,226 in 2006. By comparison, 836 workers died in mining accidents last year, and 447 died in manufacturing. The government reports between six and seven construction deaths per 1,000 workers.
Nationwide, deaths from falling off scaffolding remained steady at about 88 per year…
…The rise in construction fatalities can be explained by a deadly mix of untrained immigrant workers, lax attention to safety regulations and profit-minded contractors who cut corners in all areas from labor to materials.
“There is a tremendous pressure, particularly in construction, to put pressure on workers to be productive and to take short cuts,” said Joel Shufro, executive director of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health.
Fines for employers who violate regulations are low — averaging only about $1,600 an incident, according to Shufro. When a worker is killed, the maximum punishment is six months in jail.
“Fines for harassing a burro on federal land are greater,” he said. “But they do the best they can with limited resources.”
Bovis Lend Lease, the company that is handling the Trump project, released a statement to the Associated Press saying they would launch an investigation of the worker’s death.
“Our hearts go out to the family of the deceased concrete worker, and our prayers are with the injured workers,” said Mary Costello, company spokesman.
What is most startling in these accidents is the disproportionate number of immigrant deaths — and not only in New York, where illegal workers make up 86 percent of all fatalities.
While urban areas are facing a building boom, more rural areas are feeling the effects of a slowing economy, according to construction experts. Unions and employers say they face increased competition from those who hire cheap, illegal immigrants.
Here’s another round-up of links to recent crane regulation moves.
Competing with unregulated, bad contractors, using poorly crafted equipment
The constant pressures of competing with contractors who use undocumented workers is devastating the conditions on all construction sites, everyone is in a frenzy to get the lowest bid against these unscrupulous contractors and to keep themselves employed. Be it cutting corners or rushing to complete a job, the atmosphere is there. There also should be a push to use USA and other highly qualified countries materials and tools on the job sites. Shit, if the dog food ingredients and toys from China contain poison, why is it acceptable to use rigging equipment and steel from that region? A lot of Chinese equipment such as 'shackles' and wire slings do not even have a company name on them. It's up to the rigger to refuse to use them. Thats a terrible burden to put on the worker, who will then be "labeled" a trouble maker and risk losing his job. It should be against the law to use them. Many times we have had "Jet" equipment, such as furniture dollies fail with under weighted loads. The rigging equipment needs to be stringently regulated, especially if it is being used overhead. The 'sweatshop construction' practice needs to be eliminated all together. According to a piece featured here at Joe's Union Review from Al Jazeera news:
According to New York Construction Workers United, about 64 per cent of the city's 250,000 construction workers are immigrants who do the vast majority of non-union work.
Basic security equipment like harnesses and – in Juan's case - hard hats are often lacking from job sites.
Those who do receive safety equipment are often forced to pay for it themselves. Many are afraid to complain because they do not want to be blacklisted or risk being deported if they are illegal.
End the 'sweatshop construction' and the city and the United States will be a much safer place.
Currently we have a large percentage of contractors (aprox. 1/4 of all current construction in NY has employees that work off the books or are misclassified as independent contractors) here who pay their undocumented employees below the minimum wage and misclassifying them as independent contractors. Entitling them to let the "employee' bear the burden of making sure his taxes are being payed, workers comp insurance is in place, supply their own safety equipment and working conditions.
Currently our Building and Construction Unions, local politicians from a bipartisan background and a host of other agencies, like the Brennan center for Justice and the Fiscal Policy Institute have been bringing to light the reckless behavior of these unscrupulous contractors, their safety violations, their shotty and dangerous work, their unskilled workers, the slave wages (according to the Brennan report some are forced to work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week for $6-$12 an hour), the public safety concern, the nonpayment by employer of taxes for said employees(in fact 2 construction companies are facing jail time(NY Newsday reported one for $220,000 and another $394,788 in evading employee taxes), The Governor himself has declared an Executive order to end this misclassification of workers, this doesn't even mention the tax burden these contractors push off onto the general public and those contractors who(according to Fiscal Policy Institute) cost workers lost wages and benefits and local, state and federal governments nearly $500 million in 2005. When one of these 50,000+ workers gets sick and winds up in the hospital who do you think winds up paying for that? We do.Who winds up paying for their kids schooling, the upkeep of our infrastructure, our public employees wages? the list goes on. What is the cost to us for the lowest bid?
So I say if the Department Of Buildings, Bloomberg and any Governmental entity really wants to make anything better and safer here in New York they should not wait until the next crane travesty, they should not focus on the 'giant accidents', they should work from the bottom up. Remember these contractors who go into business never do it to get smaller. These are the huge contractors of the future and they seem to get a free pass on everything.
There is one reason to be working, to go home in one piece at the end of the day.
Unfortunately, 2 construction workers here in New York will not have that opportunity. From the crane operator who was going to get married in 2 weeks, to the immigrant from Kosovo who was working on the sewer lines in the street, to the carpenter who was working in the stairs who is still in serious condition, to the fourth victim who I haven't read anything about, it is a terrible day indeed.
Sphere: Related Content
Last night around 11:00PM, in a construction zone at the Verrazano Bridge toll plaza, a 26 year old Brooklyn man named Kacper Pachowicz, decided that his speedy return was so important that he would ignore the 2 workers holding flags telling drivers to stop and drive directly into the work zone. Thats the story according to law enforcement officers at the scene.
I hate assholes like this, don't they realize that there are reasons for safety flaggers? Sometimes, actually most of the time it's for their own safety. Are they soooo selfish that they can't wait?
I have done my fair share of stopping pedestrians and traffic and there are some really stupid people out there, from the I have to get to work crowd to the ones that decide they can drive around traffic cones to the oncoming lane to get to where they have to go when its obvious they have to stop.
Pachowicz wound up hitting a worker, it's too bad he didn't drive off the bridge. Miraculously the worker was not injured when he fell off the hood. It doesn't end there, Pachowicz got past the toll plaza and ignoring police lights and sirens until he was ultimately arrested and charged with second-degree reckless endangerment, resisting arrest and leaving the scene of an accident, all misdemeanors.
*NOTE: The city of Memphis may be the Workman's Compensation insurance carrier, I am assuming that they are 2 separate entities.
FAST FACTS:
Memphis sanitation worker Carl Johnson hurt last year when garbage truck backs over him
Johnson spends 10 months in hospital and faces more operations and rehab
Johnson says city alerted him it plans to drop Johnson from payroll and cut off medical benefits
Life sucks, you bust your ass to feed the family, you do it year after year, obviously your a good worker, you made it for 34 years without getting terminated. You are a good employee and in this era when ill informed people talk about unions being a thing of the past they highlight how 'good' employers have become.
For Carl Johnson, who was the breadwinner for his family and taking care of his disabled mother, he didn't deserve what happened. They call them accidents for a reason, Carl was behind a truck driven by a rookie driver, who mistakingly ran it in reverse and according to Carl, "The truck hit me here and crushed my pelvis and stuff."
Carl Johnson was severely injured, so severe in fact that he would spend the next 10 months of his life in a hospital.
It seems that the Johnson family left the matter in the hands of the insurance company and the City of Memphis, BIG MISTAKE, because when Carl returned home on April 1st., he got a letter from the insurance company explaining as Carl puts it "They said you will be dropped from workman's comp and receive your last paycheck May 10th.", to make matters even worse Memphis city has a policy that states no employee can be off a city job longer than 12 consecutive months due to disability from a job related illness.
So now Carl is now without Workman's Comp, without his jobs medical benefits and without income. This man broke his ass for his city, didn't get legal council because he left it to fate that the right thing would be done and is disabled! What is going on in Memphis? Why is Carl in this predicament? Why is any tax paying American worker ever screwed into a situation like this? According to the city, Mr.Johnson can apply for Long Term Disability and Social Security, which Carl says ($1,300) wouldn't even put a dent in his medical bills.
Lisa, Carl's sister, in speaking of others who have wound up in similar situations in Memphis, states "I feel like they should have and could have done more for them, just as he did for them.". The Johnson family has now hired legal council for help and to hopefully help others, by having Carl's case serve as an example of changes needed.
I hope it helps, no worker should ever be in the bind that Carl is in, it makes you feel as if the insurance company wished he died. What a savage race we are, the corporate greed is immeasurable and the city bureaucracy is appalling. The same way the Johnson family is being screwed is the same way it can happen to any one of us.
This bill would require the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue rules regulating combustible industrial dusts, like sugar dust, that can build up to hazardous levels and explode. In early February the Imperial Sugar refinery in Port Wentworth, Georgia, exploded, killing 13 workers and severely injuring many more. OSHA and the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, which have launched a major investigation into the Imperial Sugar explosion, have concluded that the explosion was caused by combustible sugar dust. In 2006, following a series of fatal combustible dust explosions, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board conducted a major study of combustible dust hazards. It identified 281 combustible dust incidents between 1980 and 2005 that killed 119 workers, injured 718 others, and extensively damaged industrial facilities. OSHA has known about these dangers for years, but has failed to act. Even after the Chemical Safety Board urged OSHA in 2006 to issue rules controlling dust hazards, OSHA has never offered any indication that it is planning to issue such rules without being required to do so by law.
Tammy Miser: “Shawn’s back was towards the furnace when they were picking up their tools and there was a blast. Some say Shawn got up and started walking towards the door and then there was a second, more intense blast. Shawn didn’t die instantly. He laid on building floor while the aluminum dust burnt through his flesh and muscle tissue. The breaths that he took burnt his internal organs, and the blast took his eyesight. Shawn was still conscious and asking for help… And the two things that I can always remember and that never leave are his last words, ‘I’m in a world of hurt,’ and his last breaths.”
Thank you Tammy, for your hard work to memorialize workers who die on the job. I watched with great adoration your courage to speak in front of congress on behalf of workers.
Shawn did not die in vain. Through your persistence you have helped to change the world for the next worker, for that we are all grateful.
To read more about Tammy Miser and her contributions, as well as those of Rep. George Miller, please take a look at the article "Our Memorial Day" by Esther Kaplan published this week at the Nation Sphere: Related Content
