Job fatality rates: A look at the workers who did not come home

Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) is once again investigating a local worker’s death.

“Every worker deserves to return home to their family at the end of the day in the same condition that they left that morning,” said Ron Bieber, president of the AFL-CIO, one of Michigan’s largest labor organizations representing more than one million workers and their families.

But Matthew McCoy, 23, of Warren never came home.

He was killed June 7 when heavy machinery fell on him at DPR Manufacturing. The Warren Fire Department arrived on the scene around 2 p.m. Fire officials said they were met by employees of the company, who had removed the item that fell on him. DPR is a family-owned and operated custom fabrication shop, which provides products in stainless steel among other materials.

First responders quickly determined that McCoy was in cardiac arrest and had suffered other life-threatening crush injuries. Fire crews initiated advanced life support procedures and he was transported to Ascension Macomb Oakland Hospital but he never recovered.

Among those who expected him to return home after work was his sister.

According to the Gofundme fundraiser launched by a friend, she and her brother were very close. She had contributed largely to the upbringing of the young man known as a kind soul who loved his job, playing video games and drawing.

DPR Manufacturing President Westleigh Deguvera didn’t respond to an email from The Macomb Daily regarding the incident.

What happened is a tragedy for McCoy’s family and the company.

How something like this could happen remains under investigation.

“After MIOSHA or NIOSHA is notified of the fatality we have 24 hours to open an investigation,” said Laura Basile, safety and health manager with MIOSHA’s general industry safety and health division. “We’ll talk to the employer, employees, any witnesses and first responders to determine what happened.”

Initial reports indicate McCoy was moving sheet metal with the use of a cart. While moving the sheet metal, the cart caught an uneven edge of a walking-working surface and tipped over on to him.

During a fatality investigation, MIOSHA’s primary objective is to determine whether violations of its standard field operations manual occurred and what affects the violations of the standards had on the accident or fatality. Investigations of this type typically take several months or more to complete.

Once it’s completed, DPR Manufacturing will be provided with the results and a copy of that will be provided to McCoy’s immediate family.

“If MIOSHA finds that the employer violated safety and health standards, the agency may issue citations and seek civil penalties against the employer, and may also refer the case to the Attorney General for possible criminal prosecution under Section 35(5) of the Act,” according to MIOSHA.

Mike Krafcik, a spokesperson for MIOSHA, said their records show that there have been no prior investigations or violations at the facility.

The penalties based on the severity of the incident and probability that it should never have happened range anywhere from $400 to $7,000.

Job fatality rates

Workplace safety is not a corporate phrase.

It’s an employer’s responsibility to provide a workplace environment that is free of hazards that might endanger its employees so workers can return home to their loved ones.

McCoy is the 13th worker in Michigan to be killed at work this year.

“Every year, we’re faced with the tragedy of preventable deaths and injuries on the job,” Bieber said, during a memorial day event in April honoring workers killed or injured on the job. “We’ve certainly come a long way in the decades-long fight to keep workers safe on the job and we owe that progress to labor unions. But our leaders simply must do more to prevent needless death and injury in the workplace.”

The National AFL-CIO’s Death on the Job report released in conjunction with Workers Memorial Day showed an increase in the national job fatality rate from 2021 to 2022, with 5,486 workers dying on the job.

The rate of fatal job injuries in 2022 was 3.7 per 100,000 workers, which does not include those who died from occupational diseases, estimated to be 120,000 each year nor does it include first responders, doctors, nurses and other health care workers exposed to COVID-19 at work.

Transportation incidents, in particular roadway collisions, continue to be the leading cause of workplace deaths, responsible for 2,066 or 38% of all fatalities in 2022, followed by deaths from falls, slips and trips (865 or 16%), violence (849 or 15%) and exposure to harmful substances or environments (839 or 15%), according to the report.

States with the overall highest fatality rates include:

• Wyoming (12.7 per 100,000)

• North Dakota (9.8)

• Mississippi (6.9)

• New Mexico (6.8)

• West Virginia (6.8)

• Louisiana (6.4)

Michigan ranked 17th in the nation in workplace fatalities in 2022, with a rate of 3.2 per 100,000.

Local numbers

Data released by MIOSHA over the past five years, while not increasing, provides a small glimpse of the people these numbers represent and those impacted by job fatality rates as 35 people died statewide in 2023, two in Macomb County.

On May 28 a 39-year-old painter was performing painting operations at a manufacturing facility. An employee working nearby heard a noise and found the victim lying on the ground. The victim was transported to the hospital and was placed on life support but died two days later.

On Oct. 26 a 50-year-old assistant terminal manager and a coworker were performing a rail ship audit. The coworker was driving vehicles onto a railcar while the victim assisted. The victim was pinned between a stationary vehicle and a moving vehicle on the railcar.

In 2022 there were 45 deaths in Michigan, including five in Macomb County.

On Dec. 22, a 77-year-old direct service professional in Mount Clemens tested positive for COVID-19. She was admitted to a hospital and put on a ventilator but died a month later.

On July 15, a 53-year-old truck driver walked behind a tandem dump truck in Chesterfield Township to clear the bumper of concrete debris when he was struck by a bulldozer backing up.

On Aug. 5 a 59-year-old custodian was standing near a double-stacked cardboard bale, conversing with a fork truck operator at a facility in Center Line. As the operator drove away, witnesses reported seeing the cardboard bale — weighing about 2,500 pounds — slide off the bottom bale and on to the victim, pinning him to the ground against the fork truck. He was hospitalized and died 11 days later.

On Aug. 23, a 46-year-old roofer climbed a secured ladder in Richmond carrying a piece of metal trim that came into contact with a live electrical line, causing him to fall approximately 18 feet from the ladder to the ground.

On Oct. 24 a 25-year-old Hilo operator was operating a powered industrial truck in Sterling Heights. The employee took a turn too quickly and was ejected. The powered industrial truck tipped over and fell onto the victim

In 2021 there were 54 deaths in Michigan, including two in Macomb County.

On April 21, a 57-year-old crane operator was staging a die onto the east bolster with a crane. The die was not aligned with the locating pins. While standing between the die and the press, the crane operator maneuvered the die onto the bolster pin. The misalignment of the hoist to the center point of the die caused the die to swing to the home position resulting in the die striking the crane operator.

On Dec. 9, a 53-year-old state police sergeant died of COVID-19.

In 2020 there were 75 deaths in Michigan, six in Macomb County.

On April 12, a 55-year-old program manager working in a residential home for adult foster care in Warren was sent home with symptoms consistent with COVID-19. She died in the hospital four days later.

On April 6, a 59-year-old psychiatric hospital nurse tested positive for COVID-19. She was hospitalized and died on April 22.

On May 26, a 54-year-old corrections program coordinator was sent home from work when she developed SARS-CoV-2 symptoms. The employer was informed of her death on June 5.

On July 19 a 60-year-old maintenance technician was electrocuted while working alone on a junction box in Warren.

On Sept. 21, a 26-year-old laborer was sent to repair and replace a manhole cover in St. Clair Shores when he was struck and killed by a passing vehicle.

On Oct. 22, a 51-year-old field supervisor/operating engineer was operating a broom tractor on a public roadway in Macomb when he was struck by a passing vehicle. The employer was informed the employee passed away on Oct. 29, 2020.

On Nov. 10, during a mold change at a facility in Romeo, the top portion of the mold broke off a machine and fell to the floor crushing the 42-year-old trimmer.

On Dec. 30, a 41-year-old laborer was repairing a water main in an excavation when a portion of the wall broke away trapping the laborer and causing a pump to fail filling the excavation with water.

In 2019 there were 39 deaths in Michigan, including two fatalities in Macomb County.

On March 5, a 75-year-old rancher was standing next to a horse when he was bumped and knocked to the ground. During the fall, he hit his head and later died as a result of blunt force head trauma.

On Sept. 9, two laborers in Sterling Heights, ages 53 and 30 were attempting to move slabs of granite with an overhead crane. As the granite slabs were lifted off of an A-frame rack, the slabs on the opposite side of the rack fell over creating a domino effect that caused multiple granite slabs to fall onto the laborers.

Making it safe for workers

Every death on the job is tragic but this loss is compounded when the death could have been prevented by following standard safety measures. For those unsure as to what those might be there’s Michigan’s Voluntary Protection Program (MVPP), in which MIOSHA will do a free inspection of a facility in order to point out any hazards like a missing guard to prevent the loss of fingers or tethers to prevent falls, and fatalities.

Bieber said there’s also legislation in the works to increase the penalties for companies that do not provide a safe work environment and to improve the child labor laws.

He knows of a 17-year-old worker who lost his hand in a meat grinder that he should have never been operating. The employer’s penalty was $1,100 and that goes to the state’s general fund.

Families may opt to pursue other avenues of legal recourse against employers but that can be costly.

“The penalties have to be high enough to deter these companies from ignoring safety on the job,” Bieber said.

There’s also only 69 workplace safety and health inspectors in the state of Michigan, who conducted 3,406 inspections in 2023.  “We figured out that it would take them about 87 years to inspect every workplace, once.”

— Macomb Daily staff reports contributed to this article