A man had been working at the steel mill for 45 years, and he had plenty of brushes with safety issues. Once, he was almost struck by a wrecking ball, narrowly missing it. He had come home to his wife and told her that he felt like someone was going to die on the job, adding that he hoped that he would not be the one to go. Unfortunately, that hope was not to be realized, as he was killed while working on a train, a job that he had been doing for years.
The accident is still under investigation, but it appears that he was on the side of one of the cars, riding on it, when it pulled up next to a row of other cars on a nearby track. He was crushed between both rows of cars as the trains came together, though the trains themselves did not collide. It is not clear if he was supposed to be riding on the side of the car or if that was a breach of the safety protocols at the plant.
The investigation will go a long way toward determining if there will be a civil lawsuit that stems from the case. All employees deserve working areas that are safe, regardless of their industry. This is just as true in a department store as a steel mill. The mill has to have procedures and protocols in place to keep accidents from happening. They cannot prevent all of them, but they at least need to do what they can to avoid injuries and deaths.
At this plant, there have been a number of other accidents. One man fell 47 feet, breaking multiple bones, but he survived. There was a huge fire that caused extensive damage. The investigation will see if any of the accidents and mishaps are due to neglect, including this most recent one.
Source: The Chronicle-Telegram, "Republic worker killed in accident had expressed safety concerns" Evan Goodenow, Feb. 16, 2014