A Trench Caves In; a Young Worker Is Dead (OSHA gutted)

[diamond14]

A Trench Caves In; a Young Worker Is Dead. Is It a Crime?
By DAVID BARSTOW

Published: December 21, 2003

CINCINNATI — As the autopsy confirmed, death did not come right away for Patrick M. Walters. On June 14, 2002, while working on a sewer pipe in a trench 10 feet deep, he was buried alive under a rush of collapsing muck and mud. A husky plumber's apprentice, barely 22 years old, Mr. Walters clawed for the surface. Sludge filled his throat. Thousands of pounds of dirt pressed on his chest, squeezing and squeezing until he could not draw another breath.

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Soon after, an investigator from the coroner's office called Mrs. Marts. He could not have been nicer. Such a tragedy, he said. But by then, the first insistent questions had begun to form. Her son had often spoken about his fear of being buried alive. He had described being sent into deep trenches without safety equipment, like the large metal boxes placed in excavations to create a sheltered workspace.

"Was there a trench box?" she asked the investigator. He paused, she recalled. "He says, `Ma'am, no safety procedures were followed. None.'

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In the case of Moeves Plumbing, OSHA agreed to cut its fines 40 percent, from $90,000 to $54,000. Moeves Plumbing could pay in four annual installments, with the first not due for another year. It was not required to admit any wrongdoing.


http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/21/national/21OSHA.html



The body of Patrick Walters as it was removed from the (Moeves Plumbing) trench that collapsed and killed him in 2002. His family's lawyers provided the photograph.



Workers carried the body of Clint Daley from the scene of a collapsed trench dug by Moeves Plumbing in 1989.





(bush* has made OSHA totally useless....workers DIE as corporations get rich....it's the cheap-labor-conservative way ! )

[BlueCollar]

1. another peasant dies...

but hey, it's OK right...people got tax refunds and it was good for small business...

:end sarcasm:

[schultzee]

7. Should repuglican's lack of compassion and empathy amaze us? No.

They are the party of greed,corruption,and crimes against the working people of America.

[mbperrin]

2. The company HAD purchased life insurance on him

with them as the beneficiary, right? If not, they sure screwed up a chance to cash in.

Dead peasants insurance - it's the American corporate way!

(Dear Lord - PLEASE let there be a burning hell!)

[stevedeshazer]

3. A very sad event

Who needs unions, OSHA, and protection for workers?

WE do.

[barbaraann]

4. Americans are now Disposable Worker Units (DWU's).

To the corporate elite we are not humans, we are just cheap, disposable objects. And I think there is a sick appetite for death in some cases.

The police here recently broke up a high-level prostitution ring and found the list of customers--a "who's who of corporate executives from the Seattle area." The men who are treating the prostitutes like disposable objects are also treating their employees as disposable objects. It's tragic.

[NashVegas]

5. Wow. Powerful Story

initial thoughts:

1. His dad should have followed through with the shotgun revenge, and later plead insanity.

2. I wouldn't want to live in the house where that trench was being dug, I'd think about that guy everytime I flushed the toilet.

3. Tommy Chong: still in jail.

[schultzee]

8. I think they have a good civil suit.

[schultzee]

6. Getting rid of the middle class in more than financial ways

[Code_Name_D]

9. OSHA was never realy that strong.

Here in Wichita, we had a diaster strike as one of our grain elivators blew up. You might not think this as a problem, but grain dust is highly volotile. Speshal high valume filters and fans are needed to take the dust out of the air. And every thing has to be spark raited, that is made in such a away that moving parts or electronics will not emit sparks to ignite the dust.

It was called the Debruce Grain Elivators. And this guy was notoruse for cutting his corners. Letting the filters clog up by being slow to buy replacemnts, and using parts that were not spark raited. And the inebitable happend. The elivator blew, and the plast was heard for miles. Two were killed instantly while working in the upper house where the plast was started. But the blast also distroied the lower hatches of the elivators where for outher men were working. Who were then barried under sevral hundred thousands tuns of wheat and corn grain. Two of whom were never found. One worker was stranded at the top.

It was discoverd that not only had Debruce failed sevral OSHA inspections, but was under COURT OURDER to address these issues becase of this very risk. But some how, the man has NOT been counf criminaly negligent. And both State and Federal law protects Debruce from all liabilites.

And this happend before Bush.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

10. You know you can write your message in Word or another word

processing program and spell check it. Then you can just cut and paste.

[Gman]

11. I had a friend killed in the 80's when Reagan was in office

He was killed when a crane boom collapsed on his him while he dismantled it. It was the same thing. The guy's wife and two small kids got $10,000 from the fines and the company went on its merry way.

[burrowowl]

12. The French industrial and construction

accidents shocked the Germans, but compared to the U$, we should be so lucky.
In Europe, CEO's and other officiers go to JAIL when there is negligence.

[aquart]

13. See, I LIKE that plan. Let's adopt CEO liability.

And then hang 'em.

[Mari333]

14. During the Raygun era OSHA was also gutted

thats when my husband was killed on the job in a chemical explosion. 1989. and it ended up being mismanagement and shoddy conditions and defective equipment that caused it.
That company went to court and went out of business..and it was a big one too.
12 other workers lived , but were burned and live horrific lives now.
More Repuke compassion.