A man got killed where I work today.

[Tobin S.]

A fellow employee. I work as a trucker for a scrap yard. There is a lot of heavy machinery there: cranes, trucks, balers and such. The guy was operating a baler when a piece of scrap tripped a limit switch and blocked operation of the machine. When that happens, the operator has to climb into the machine and clear the scrap. He was supposed to shut the machine off and put a bar in place that keeps the machine from swinging shut. He failed to do both of those things. When he was in the machine and he cleared that switch, the machine swung back into operation and crushed him.

The guy had been working there for at least 13 years and I imagine that he had done what he was doing without shutting the machine down for a while, but he always had remembered to put that bar in place. I think something threw him out of his routine and he just forgot to do it that time with fatal consequences.

We were closed for an hour and a half, then the owner told everyone to get back to work. It was surreal. I swear, it was like something out of a Charles Dickens novel. I didn't know the man who got killed very well, but I had talked to him sometimes and he had helped me in the yard. He was a nice guy and well liked by his coworkers. Just out of respect, they should have shut that place down for at least the rest of the day. There were three or four men there who witnessed what happened. I talked to two of them and they were really tore up. Not only had they lost a friend, they had seen him killed in a horrific way. And you're going to tell those guys to just get back to work while hardly missing a beat? It strikes me as cruel and inhumane.

It was a struggle for me to get through the rest of the day. The guy's wife showed up outside the gate because she had heard that someone had gotten killed there. The cops broke it to her right there. Can you imagine that?

They say OSHA will be investigating.

[mythology]

1. That really sucks

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. How horrible, my dear Tobin, and your boss is a monster.

Sometimes people take shortcuts or something, and then disaster strikes.

I am so sorry to hear this. And his wife! My god.

But your boss takes the cake. Get back to work?

Please be careful. And I know you are.

[Tobin S.]

5. Jen heard the call on our scanner and freaked out.

She immediately called me thinking it could have been me who was hurt. I had been unable to get my phone to take a charge earlier in the day, but got it working before she called. I'm glad I did. I know Jen would have been in a panic if she would not have been able to get a hold of me.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. It's so good you were able to reach her!

[steve2470]

3. that's horrible, and yes your boss is a monster nt

[irisblue]

4. That poor woman! The boss is an awful human.

[mnhtnbb]

6. Oh, Tobin, that is truly awful.

And the boss? Unbelievably callous. Unsympathetic.

The poor wife.

You really do need to find a new job. The owner is a grade A a$$hole.

[Laffy Kat]

7. It seems like to me that should have closed for AT LEAST the rest of the day.

AND called counselors in for the employees. Jesus. I am so sorry.

[A Little Weird]

9. Wow I'm so sorry

[Kali]

10. OMG, Tobin

how awful. I am so sorry for everybody and what they had to witness.

and such an unfeeling owner! what an asshole.

[bluedigger]

11. I would never go back.

Take some time for yourself.

[Maru Kitteh]

12. When you are interviewed - Convey this: Every employee there who was told "get back to work"

was endangered. You are likely correct that the man probably was distracted when he died so terribly.

Every single employee who was told to get back to work that day was being ordered to work in a dangerous environment when any reasonable person would have to assume that they would be in a distracted and emotionally compromised state. This endangered everyone.

Your boss is going to threaten everyone with the "what will you do if this place is shut down?" scenario. It will be communicated directly or indirectly that you are supposed to cover the company's ass. I hope that many of those present will have the courage to do the right thing but in the absence of that, please remember, it only takes one.

I'm deeply sorry for what you went through today. Allow yourself some grace in processing this. If you find yourself thinking "what's wrong with me?" Stop, and start a new script. Remind yourself to give yourself a break. You've been through more than a little too much today and it's going to take a while. That's okay, it's supposed to.

An hour and a half? Good fucking grief. What a knuckle-dragging sonovabitch.

[Major Nikon]

13. I've been involved in the investigation of a few occupational injuries

My experience has been that these types of things happen whenever a culture of safety breaks down or never existed. The fact that they started up the operation after such a short period of time is very telling. It tells me they had no interest in trying to figure out what really caused this and could really care less if it happens again. It depends on who OSHA sends out, but I suspect this is going to cause the investigator to really dig a little deeper, because it sounds like there's plenty to be found. To start with the investigator should look into whatever lockout/tagout procedures exist and I suspect they are going to find some significant deficiencies.

[rusty quoin]

18. I want a government that cares about worker safety.

And not one that protects corporate interests.

[Major Nikon]

28. My experience with OSHA has been exactly that

They are knowledgeable and professional and are dedicated to enforcing laws and regulations that protect workers' safety.

[Silver_Witch]

14. Tobin - I grieve with you

It is an odd world we work in now. Work above men. I am sad that the company didn't at least send the men who witnessed the tragedy home with pay for the day. It is no longer the world we once knew.

I hope you are okay and my thoughts are with you.

[awoke_in_2003]

15. OSHA is now a paper tiger...

Labor is cheap, if you don't like it, find another job. This is what we have become, because we have turned our backs on Labor. Just more blood to grease the gears. Sorry, don't mean to sound so cynical. Take care of yourself, and ALWAYS follow safety procedures. I worked in a machine shop for 2 years while I went to school. I, unlike a lot of the guys I worked with, still have all my fingers.

[rusty quoin]

16. It is capitalism as usual.

They kept you guys working. We are just things rather than humans to them.

[passiveporcupine]

17. Really sorry to hear that.

I guess I've been lucky in not experiencing anything like that with a co-worker being killed at work. Close, but not that close up and personal. Even when you aren't close to someone, if you have any kind of connection, it just makes it harder to deal with.

I am sorry they didn't give you all the day off. I would have been too shaken up by something like that. I feel for his wife. Did he have kids?

[Tobin S.]

24. He had two sons that I know of.

[Lunabell]

19. I am so sorry

OMG what a horrible day! I hope you are not too traumatized.

[C Moon]

20. Wow. My heart dropped. Charles Dickens, indeed. RIP good man.

[Liberal_in_LA]

21. Awful!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

22. Contempt for workers is all the rage.

[Solly Mack]

23. My condolences to the man's family. I'm sorry, Tobin.

Surreal is the perfect word for witnessing a work-related death. You walk about in a daze the rest of the day. Even those who didn't see it happen are affected. This is your job. This is where you spend a great many hours. Then a co-worker dies a gruesome death.

Everything takes on a different look - it's all slower, thicker, if you know what I mean.

His poor wife. To learn that way.

[Tobin S.]

25. I know exactly what you mean.

I felt like I had concrete blocks chained to my ankles for the rest of the day and my mind was shocked.

[Tobin S.]

26. Thank you all for your kind an sympathetic words.

[brer cat]

27. Horrible, Tobin.

You all needed the rest of the day off at a minimum. And his poor wife....just inexcusable!!

[Gidney N Cloyd]

29. I'm surprised that investigators at the scene didn't shut the place down for the day.

[redwitch]

30. Tobin I really want you to find a better place to earn your living.

Am going to put that prayer out into the universe. I am so sorry for that man's family. And I agree, your boss is a monster.

[mackerel]

31. Wow...Wow...that's hella cray!

Honestly I would have left for the day myself. Especially during holy week. That's some PTSD shite going down.

I pray you can leave that place.

[GreatGazoo]

32. I too was working in Charles Dicken place years ago and they underpaid me at Christmas

so they gave me a stack of timecards to go through to find mine. A co-worker friend of mine had been killed in a car crash two weeks prior.

I am going through the stack and his card was in there. Written across the face of the card it says "Dead. Do Not Pay." It was shocking to me. I threw up. And why not send the check to his family?

I believe as Anne Frank did that "most people are good" but wow, what a cold world we live in sometimes.

[tomm2thumbs]

33. terrible story

sorry you had to go through that

[onethatcares]

34. way back in the early 70s

i knew a guy that worked making styrofoam cups. he cleared a machine that same way and was crushed by it along with the heat it put out.

terrible way to die but it had to be quick.

the company never missed a beat.

I saw another guy lose a hand on a press that two men were supposed to work due to safety reasons. Don't know how he did it but it made a gaudawful mess in the factory.

company never missed a beat.

sorry you had to be there, but imagine how many other accidents and deaths happened with kids in the labor force.

[2naSalit]

35. How awful!

The place should have been closed for the day and an investigation, and the family shown some respect.

[riderinthestorm]

36. So tremendously sad. Your boss should have sent everyone home

Nobody can be productive after that. It's too hard to process it that fast.

I see you posted this on Wednesday. I hope you've found some peace...

[auntAgonist]

37. Oh god Tobin! I am so sorry for you, your co-workers and most of all for this man's widow.

How absolutely horrible.

To be ordered back to work after 1.5 hours is absolutely unthinkable. The boss put you all in an unsafe predicament. None of you would have been thinking straight, some of you in shock!
Another accident just waiting to happen.


This just infurates me.

I cannot imagine how that woman is dealing with the sudden loss of her husband. I hope she has family and loved ones around her to help her in her grief.

My sincere condolences on this terrible loss.

While you are thinking of it so soon after it happened may I suggest you document the incident to the best of your ability so that when the investigators do their thing they will have your recollection of exactly what happened.

kesha
(love to you and Jen from D and I)

[Tobin S.]

38. Thanks, aA.

It's good to see you here.

[meow2u3]

39. That boss is evil

My prayers go out for his family.

His widow has grounds for a wrongful death suit. What the hell kind of boss would not give the shop the rest of the day off after seeing one of his own workers killed? Is he a psychopath?

[Generic Brad]

40. I suspect your management was in shock

A few months ago one of my employees passed away on the job. We all witnessed it and it was totally unexpected. I suspended work for the day and sent everyone home early for the weekend with pay. I made sure we brought in grief counselors first thing Monday and spent the next few weeks listening and consoling while working double shifts and weekends to keep everything afloat and back to a degree of normalcy. My company was exceptional in how they addressed things and the through the support they provided us.

But that was only because practice makes perfect. I went through a similar situation 12 years ago and it was a disaster of the first order. I didn't know what to do. I received no guidance. I got chewed out for missing a deadline on a customer complaint because I went to the funeral during work hours. I was nearly ready to quit and my staff also revolted in the weeks that followed over the harsh treatment and lack of compassion we received.

Companies are made up of people. And when people experience something they are unprepared for, their reactions can be inappropriate.

I empathize with your situation and am very sorry to hear that happened. You have my condolences, Tobin. Just remember your bosses may have been in shock and emotionally and intellectually unprepared for such a devastating situation. They are human too. Clearly flawed, but human nonetheless.

[Tobin S.]

41. I understand, Brad.

The accident happened on Wednesday. We didn't hear anything from management until Friday morning. The general manager went around and had a meeting with each department. He was clearly deeply affected by the accident. He said he was still in a state of shock. The man who had gotten killed was trained by the general manager's father before he passed away. The company has been in business for over 40 years and this is the first time anyone has gotten killed on the job there. So, like you said, they were totally unprepared for the accident and just didn't know how to properly react.

My comments in the OP were made on the same day of the accident, and I was pretty shook up, too. My words might have been a little more measured otherwise.

[Flaxbee]

42. How awful. I'm so sorry ...

for you and your co workers and especially the man and his family. I hope for his sake it was quick. He must have been terrified when he realized what was happening.

[Tobin S.]

43. It happened quickly, but he did realize what was about to hit him and he tried to get out.

I'm still struggling with it. It's hard to come to terms with something so horrific.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

44. Words fail me

..as to the order to go back to work: business owners (especially small business owners) are often as unequipped to deal with these situations as the workers are. In bigger companies, HR has procedures for these things: bring in grief counselors; offer workers the option to go home; get statements from witnesses, etc. A small business owner or manager may well be lost in this situation. The owner may employ the "get back on the horse that throwed you" logic; they may be scared that shutting down is an admission of wrongdoing; they may just be flat out in shock and keep-on-keeping-on is all they know to do.

In my professional experience, small business owner hatred of the government generally comes down to interactions with one of three entities: the IRS, the EPA, and OSHA.

I'm terribly saddened for the wife. At the risk of sounding cynical, she should retain counsel as soon as possible.

E.t.a.: I'm sorry not to have thought to ask this -- are you holding up OK?