Articles Posted in On-The-Job Injury

Jose Ayala, 47, of Simi Valley died in an on-the-job accident on October 16, 2008 after he fell into an industrial die-casting machine. Ayala worked at Vista Lighting Co., a Simi Valley firm that manufactures outdoor lights. Our source for this blog is this news report in the Ventura County Star.

Ayala suffered severe head injuries and was in full cardiac arrest when he was removed from the machine. Firefighters attempted to revive him but were unsuccessful. Ayala was pronounced dead at the scene. The fatal Simi Valley on-the-job accident is being investigated by the California Department of Occupational Safety and Health (CAL-OSHA).

My heart goes out to the members of Jose Ayala’s family, who have suffered a tragic loss. In many of these cases, the deceased person is also often the family’s breadwinner.
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James Allen Deshon II, 30, of Hesperia, died on Sept. 23 after he was crushed by a truck’s hopper in Apple Valley. According to this news report, Deshon was attempting to repair a street sweeper at Wood Brothers Trucking on Pala Lane when the accident happened. He had climbed into the sweeper to carry out the repairs when the raised tilt hopper fell on top of him, crushing and suffocating him to death.

Investigators from the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal-OSHA) will hopefully try and determine what caused this fatal on-the-job accident. The family of James Allen Deshon II will no doubt receive workers’ compensation benefits through his employer. However, workers’ compensation benefits in California are woefully inadequate to meaningfully compensate a family for the loss of their loved one.
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Jason, James Mohelski, 32, of Victorville died in an industrial accident in Riverside on Aug. 19 after he was crushed between a tire and the cab of a fire truck he was inspecting, the Riverside Press Enterprise reports. Mohelski was reportedly working on the truck at Johnson Power Systems in Riverside when he got crushed and suffered the fatal injuries.

Cal-OSHA, the state’s occupational safety and health agency, is investigating this on-the-job fatality. My heart goes out to Mohelski’s family. I offer my condolences to them.

According to the California Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH), every employer in California is required under the state’s Labor Code to provide a safe and healthful workplace for all employees. Title 8 (T8), of the California Code of Regulations (CCR), requires every California employer to have an effective Injury and Illness Prevention Program in writing that must be in accord with T8 CCR Section 3203 of the General Industry Safety Orders.
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Arturo Gonzalez, 34, died in an Anaheim construction accident after a forklift tipped over and crushed him. According to a news report in The Orange County Register, Gonzalez, working for subcontractor Padilla Construction, was plastering stucco on a new condo complex at the time of the accident.

Another worker who saw a 75-foot tall machine called the “boom” fall on Gonzalez, said he was completely crushed on impact. Officials are interviewing site workers and supervisors to determine what went wrong with the equipment and what caused the accident, according to Maria Sabol, spokeswoman for the Anaheim Fire Department.

I offer my condolences to the Gonzalez family and Arturos friends. The man is at work, earning a living and someone else’s negligence costs him his life. Heartbreaking!

Officials are still investigating what caused the Anaheim fatal construction accident. However, from the news accounts it appears to me that the scoop may have been over loaded and the forklift inadequately secured to the ground.

Clearly, the Gonzalez family is entitled to receive workers’ compensation benefits through the employer, Padilla Construction. Workers’ compensation benefits in California are embarrassingly inadequate to compensate a family for the loss of income from a primary breadwinner, much less the loss of spouse and parent. I believe there is a “third party” claim here.
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Mike Willis, a 51-year-old man and a resident of Orange died of severe head injuries in an on-the-job accident at the Budget Inn in Whittier, The Orange County Register reports.

The accident happened at the Budget Inn at 14030 Whittier Blvd as Willis was changing bulbs on a motel sign and the hydraulic ladder he was using collapsed. Apparently, when the ladder was retracting, a cable snapped and the part of the ladder Willis was standing on began to crash down. Officer Jason Zuhlke of the Whittier Police Department said Willis plummeted 40 feet and landed head-first on to a concrete surface, suffering fatal head injuries. Willis, who was on the job for his employer, A & M Signs and Lighting, was taken to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
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Randy Ribota, a 49-year-old worker died in an Anaheim workplace accident after he was crushed under a metal bin full of rocks at a CTI Telecom work site. According to an article in The Orange County Register.

Just before the fatal workplace accident Ribota was using a backhoe to load dirt and rubble into a machine that separates big pieces of rock from gravel. He had left the backhoe and was standing near the machine when its load of rock shifted and the bin tipped onto him and crushed him. Ribota died on the scene before the medics could get to him.

Officials from the California Division of Occupational Safety and Heath (CAL-OSHA) are investigating the industrial accident. Specifically, they are looking into what kind of safety training workers receive at CTI Telecom, a communications company which also does excavations for underground utility lines. The company, according to the news report, paid a $1,500 fine in 2004 for failing to have an injury and illness prevention program for its employees, not having a first-aid kit on their work site and not having an excavation permit.
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A 37-year-old Hesperia man died on the job after a trench collapsed around him while he worked on an underground power line in Banning, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported. Martin Samaniego’s crew from Riverside contractor Pouk & Steinle Inc. was reportedly working on an electrical line on a Banning street when the trench collapsed. Samaniego was trapped seven feet under. He suffocated and died on the scene, the newspaper reported.

A spokesman for the company told the newspaper that they have not yet determined what caused the trench to give way. According to the article, Samaniego was the sole breadwinner of his family, supporting his wife, Maria, and 2-year-old daughter. Family members, who were in apparent shock over the tragic accident, are still gathering money for Samaniego’s funeral, the article said. The industrial accident is being investigated by the California Department of Occupational Safety and Health (CAL-OSHA), the Banning Police Department and Pouk & Steinle, Samaniego’s employer.

Trench cave-ins are unfortunately common industrial accidents that cause death and injury. Over a five-year period, from 2001 to 2005, 26 Californians have been killed in trench collapse injuries and 207 injured in such incidents, according to CAL-OSHA’s Web site. In almost every instance of trench collapse, the cause was a failure to shore up the trench properly, the agency says.
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