Since this us NAOSH week, a week devoted to workplace safety, I thought it would be memorable to list a few of the incidents, where a worker lost his life.  No additional comments are necessary.

1/7/10 IN - Worker climbed the roof of the furnace to shut off all water when an explosion happened. The worker fell 12 feet to the floor from the furnace roof. Four (4) other workers were injured.

1/11/10 WI - Worker was working on a roof/deck and fell into an elevator shaft, 30-feet

1/11/10 KS Worker was erecting a scaffold and fell 30-feet to the ground.

1/16/10 FL - Worker tripped and fell during a visit to a patient's home.

1/19/10 CA -Worker was crushed by a lift truck.

1/28/10 KY - Worker was working at 2:47 a.m. in a convenience store, when he was shot during a robbery attempt. He was taken off life support on 1/27/2010.

2/4/10 AL - Worker was lowered into a 30- to 35-foot deep shaft to perform hand cleaning and to drill a sample test of a rock.  He was being lifted out of the shaft by the use of a pneumatic winch system.  The winch system collapsed into the shaft, striking the worker.

2/5/10 NY - Worker fell from scaffold into a window opening and 20 feet down an elevator shaft.

2/9/10 IA - Worker was trying to grab a large piece of cardboard out of the back of the garbage truck when the driver began to close the tailgate. The driver heard the worker and opened it. The worker who had been caught by the tailgate was transported to the hospital where he later died.

2/12/10 WV - Worker was exposed to a chemical stripping agent and suffered respiratory pain / illness due to poor ventilation.

3/3/2010 OK – Worker was drilling a water well. The boom of the drilling rig contacted a high voltage power line of a cell phone tower. Worker was electrocuted.

3/4/2010 WY - A material handler was walking in a parking lot when he slipped on some ice causing him to fall, striking his head on parking lot surface.

3/12/2010 LA – Worker had climbed down a ladder into a railcar, which had been identified as a confined space, wearing an acid gas respirator with an organic vapor cartridge. As he began to exit the railcar, climbing up the ladder, he collapsed and fell back into the railcar. It is believed there was a nitrogen atmosphere in the railcar.

3/12/2010 TX – The company was applying a coat of stain and two coats of sealant. Two workers were observed outside the building getting air, as the fumes were getting to be too much. One worker fatality and one worker hospitalization.

3/17/2010 TN – Worker was standing on a flatbed trailer while a crane operator was loading three coils of steel onto the truck. The coils fell off the truck striking the worker who had jumped off the truck to get out of the way.

3/23/2010 MT – Worker was trampled by a bull.