OSHA shrinks worker death list, cutting most Georgia fatalities

OSHA staff interviewing a worker at a job site

Detailed public information about U.S. workers killed on the job was eliminated Friday from the homepage of the federal agency responsible for workplace safety, substituted with an abbreviated list elsewhere that omits many deaths and other details.

That fresh list, for example, includes the deaths of only two Georgia workers so far this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1. But information compiled by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows that at least thirty two Georgia workers have been killed on the job in that time, with the latest death Sunday at a treated wood facility in Thomson.

Also liquidated from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration list are the names of victims. Instead, the list provides only the date, location and a brief description of the incident. To see where the victims worked, the public must click through to incident reports. Detailed information on some extra cases is available by searching summaries of fatality and catastrophe investigations, albeit locating the information on the website can be difficult.

Politico quoted a Labor Department spokesman who said the fresh policy will ensure that information is more accurate and that it respects the privacy of victims’ family members.

But publishing victims’ names was significant to humanize the data and remind the public that more than Four,500 workers are killed on the job each year, said Jordan Barab, a former deputy assistant secretary for OSHA during the Obama administration. “In eight years of posting this information, along with the names, we never received one complaint from a family about privacy,” he wrote in an email to the AJC.

“Having the names does enable researchers and others to look further into the incident,” he wrote. “The inspection reports that are linked on the fresh list don’t provide much useful information beyond what violations were cited.”

He also noted that the OSHA list provided public notice of deaths of workers who don’t fall under OSHA’s legal jurisdiction, including most public employees, workers on petite farms or puny businesses where OSHA is prohibited from enforcing the law, and workers covered by other federal agencies, such as rail and mine workers.

Friday’s stir is the latest under the Trump Administration to de-emphasize enforcement deeds and instead highlight safety measures.

In addition, as the AJC reported earlier this year, OSHA now issues fewer news releases, and most have been for safety events.

By this date last year, the agency had issued fifty five news releases for the OSHA region that includes Georgia, with only about a half dozen announcing safety campaigns. The rest announced enforcement deeds. This year, thirteen news releases are posted for the region: nine for safety events and four for enforcement deeds.

The agency’s homepage now highlights how companies can cooperate with OSHA on safety measures, Politico reported.

The two Georgia worker deaths shown on OSHA’s fresh fatalities list are the Jan. Five death in Evans of a worker in a trench collapse, and the April twenty death in Flowery Branch of a worker when a wall collapsed.

News reports display that Joshua Price, 25, of Augusta, who worked for Hardy Plumbing, was the victim in the trench collapse. The victim in the Flowery Branch wall collapse was Francisco Reyes, who was listed as working for Atlanta Environmental Services.

The AJC has compiled its own list of worker deaths for the fiscal year, drawing on news reports and other public information. So far in August, the AJC found, three studs have been killed in Georgia: Johnny Bradshaw, 58, in an accident Sunday at Hoover Treated Wood in Thomson; Gregory L. Goffredo Sr., 53, after a truck pinned him in Cobb County; and Jeremy Scott Busby, 29, who died when a hydraulic car lift fell on him at a car shop in Athens.

A worker at this Forsyth County construction site was electrocuted last October and another worker was critically injured. WSB photo

Here are the other Georgia deaths for FY2017, as compiled from news reports and other records:

31: A dump truck driver was killed near Bogart, Ga., when a tire evidently failed, the truck hit trees and overturned, then caught on fire. The victim has not yet been officially identified, said Oconee County Coroner Ed Carson.

20: Quarry worker Matthew Walter Kantala IV, 36, was crushed by eight tons of falling rock, when he was drilling a section of granite In Oglethorpe County. He reportedly worked for Blue Sky Quarries.

12: John Bernecker, 33, a stuntman for “The Walking Dead,” died after he fell on the set.

Trio: Hazel Harrell, 60, was killed in what was called a crank accident while working at Road Atlanta when she was hit by a racing motorcycle.

Legal: Amber Hale, 28, fell from a billboard along a Georgia interstate in Lowndes County.

25: Derrick Douglas, 41, was killed and a co-worker critically injured at a Cobb County construction site. The fellows, who reportedly worked for DayStar Infrastructure & Construction, were in the bucket of a boom lift machine when it tipped.

24: George Fox, who worked for United Maintenance, was electrocuted while working at Ray of Hope Church in Decatur.

20: Francisco Reyes, who worked for Atlanta Environmental Services, was fatally injured when a wall collapsed in Flowery Branch.

7: A construction worker for Olympus Painting Contractors was killed when a car plowed into a work zone near Villa Rica. News reports did not identify the victim.

Four: In Fayetteville, Javier Padraza-Perez, 41, of Roswell, fell to his death at Pinewood Atlanta Studios. He worked for All Steel Construction.

Trio: Laura Evans, who worked for Influence Outsourcing Solutions, died after tripping and falling in Griffin.

1: Trevor Bryan, 20, was working at Georgia Power Co.’s Plant Scherer when he was evidently hit in the head with some kind of equipment. He worked for Atlantic Plant Maintenance.

30: William Helmintoller Jr, 52, an employee of US Pipeline, was working on a natural gas pipeline in Coweta County helping to geyser pipe onto a trailer when it knocked him down and the pipe landed on him.

30: Juan Mojica, who worked for Southeast Processing Limited, died after being thrown from a fork lift in Forest Park.

Five: Sgt. Greg Meagher died when he inhaled liquid nitrogen in attempting to rescue a worker at a sperm bank in Augusta.

Five: Joshua Price, 25, of Augusta, an employee of Hardy Plumbing, was killed when a trench caved in.

28: Tommy Solomon, 59, who possessed a tree maintenance business, was killed when his chainsaw struck a power line on Tybee Island and he fell.

21: John Brooks, 55, was caught in a machine while working at Diamond Plastics Co, in south Bibb County.

20: David Ambrose, 40, was crushed inbetween a computerized forklift and a doorway while working at Graham Packaging Company.

Nineteen: Richard Carl Anderson, 62, was killed when he fell into a machine at a sand mine for Atlanta Sand & Supply Co. in Crawford County.

12: Spencer Youthful, 50, of Lawrenceville, a tree-trimming squad member for Yellow Ribbon Tree Experts, was flagging traffic in Marietta when an 82-year-old driver struck him.

6: David L. Beaver, a private truck operator for Pioneer Transport, was killed in the rail yard at the port’s Garden City Terminal when he was struck by the driver of another truck.

16: A 64-year-old worker for Total Airport Services of Atlanta was struck by an aircraft ground support equipment lug, causing severe head injuries. His name was not released.

Two: Luis Felipe Vasquez, who worked for Lia De Anda, was killed in a fall from a ladder in Savannah.

24: Kris R. Corley was killed in a trench collapse. OSHA records previously available on the website displayed he was working for Thompson Grading of Waco, Ga.

16: A worker for Pit Stop Sanitation Services was killed in a fall from a trailer in Kennesaw, when a explosion shifted on a waste collection truck and shoved him off.

12: A worker for Jp General Construction in Forsyth County was preparing to equipment a truss to be lifted when the crane and boom cable came in contact with a power line and he was electrocuted. Another worker was critically injured.

11: A worker for C.W. Matthews Contracting was struck by a truck and then fatally crushed by a paver.

Three: Jeremy Simpson, 36, who worked for Daniel RP Management, was killed when a sprayer overturned in Greensboro.

Note: This article has been updated to eliminate one incident that occurred before the current fiscal year.

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