Another Scrap Metal Worker Has Died in Oswego New York

A second scrap metal worker has been killed while working at a yard in Oswego, NY, just months after another man was killed. Continue reading →

Nov 03, 2017 /prREACH/ -- Just this past June, a man working at a metal scrap yard in Oswego, NY lost his life when a coworker who was driving a front-end loader failed to see him working in the yard and ran him over. It was a horrific accident and the community hoped that changes would be made to keep other scrap metal workers safe.

However, just a few months after the first fatal accident, a second one occurred.

This time, the worker was the driver of a tractor-trailer that was full of scrap metal and ready to be unloaded. He had arrived back at the scrap yard, which is a sister site to the one where the first worker died, and pulled his truck up to the unloading site. He was waiting for his turn and was next to a second tractor-trailer which was being unloaded when the trailer, which was lifted in the air, flipped and landed on his truck. The weight of the metal and the trailer crushed the cab of his vehicle and trapped him inside.

EMT’s, police officers, and firefighters all responded to help him and cut him out of the truck, however, his injuries were too extensive and he was declared dead not long after arriving at the hospital.

OSHA, which hasn’t even had time to complete their investigation into the first accident, will now be investigating this one as well.

It’s a well-known fact that scrap metal workers are earning their living in a dangerous industry. On any given day, they face sharp objects, slip and fall hazards, heat and explosions, accident involving heavy machinery, and auto accidents while collecting materials. Accidents are avoidable if company owners and managers put the proper safety measures into place, but sometimes, even that isn’t enough. Defective equipment or poorly designed equipment could also cause an accident. Hopefully, when OSHA completes their investigations, they will be able to determine what the safety issues were and find a way to fix them so that others in Oswego don’t have to lose their loved ones.