Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs

Today at 2:21 PM

The 22nd Michigan worker death of 2015 occurred on August 31, 2015. Employers and employees are urged to use
extreme care and safety diligence in all work activities.
Summary of incident: On August 31, 2015, at approximately 6:00 p.m., a 23 year old truck driver was driving a dump
truck that was being loaded with rocks. Another employee was operating an excavator and loading rocks from a farm
field into the dump truck. The vehicle was traveling uphill when it slipped out of gear. It rolled backward and turned to
avoid an impact with something. Then the truck turned completely over trapping the truck driver in the cab of the truck
under the truck and the load of rocks. The truck driver suffered fatal crushing injuries.
There were 37 MIOSHA-related deaths in 2014. 2009 saw the lowest number with 24.
If you need help or assistance in ensuring your workplace is safe, MIOSHA is here with resources to help. The
Consultation Education & Training (CET) Division provides workplace safety and health training and consultations to
employers and employees throughout Michigan free of charge. Contact CET today at 800-866-4674 or submit a request
online at www.michigan.gov/cetrca.
Every life is precious. Our mutual goal must be that every employee goes home at the end of their shift every day!
This table shares preliminary details about many of the fatalities reported to the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health
Administration. These descriptions reflect information provided to MIOSHA at the initial report of the incident and are not
the result of the official MIOSHA investigation.

Fatality
Number

22.

Date

Occupation Age Type of Injury

08/31/15 Truck Driver

23 Crush

Description

Location
(City)

A 23 year old truck driver was driving a dump

truck that was being loaded with rocks. Another
employee was operating an excavator and
loading rocks from a farm field into the dump
truck. The vehicle was traveling uphill when it
slipped out of gear. It rolled backward and
turned to avoid an impact with something. Then
the truck turned completely over trapping the
truck driver in the cab of the truck under the
Jonesville
truck and the load of rocks. The truck driver
suffered fatal crushing injuries.

21.

04/04/15 Line Leader

20.

08/25/15

19.

05/06/15 Team Leader

41 Struck By

18.

07/21/15 Farm Worker

14 Caught Between

Grounds
Person

56 Struck By

55 Fall

A 56 year old line leader was operating a

powered industrial truck to flip over a fabricated
metal automotive rack. While the rack was
raised the line leader backed up, the top tray
flipped open, striking the line leader in the back.
The line leader did not seek medical attention
Flint
until two days after the incident, when he was
then admitted to the hospital. Over the course of
the next two weeks his condition deteriorated
and he died on April 4, 2015. MIOSHA was
notified on September 1, 2015.
A 55 year old grounds person and the crew boss
were trimming trees on a golf course from a
recent storm. The employees were in the process
of removing an 8-12 inch diameter limb from the
tree. They attached a chain to the tree limb and
to the bucket of a front end loader. The crew
boss was operating the loader with the grounds West Branch
person standing in the bucket. The crew boss
backed up the loader and the tree branch broke
and came back towards the grounds person in the
bucket, pinning him against the bucket. He was
transported to the hospital where he was later
pronounced dead.
A 41 year old team leader was working on a
vehicle on the assembly (moving conveyor) line.
He was struck by a vehicle on the moving
conveyor and thrown into a large tool box where
he received serious head trauma, then fell to the Detroit
floor. He died from traumatic brain injury. This
fatality was initially reported by the company as
a heart attack but recent information indicated it
is a MIOSHA program related fatality.
A 14 year old farm worker was loading hay
bales onto an elevator when her clothing became
entangled in the power take-off (PTO) shaft,
resulting in her fatal injuries.
Vermontville

17.

07/18/15 Owner

63 Crush

16.

Feed
07/14/15 Operations
Manager

30 Fall

15.

07/13/15 Laborer

40 Crush

14.

07/08/15

13.

Journeyman
07/07/15 Maintenance
Technician

57 Crush

12.

06/27/15 Laborer

30 Fall

11.

06/16/15

Electrician
Foreman

40 Electrocution

10.

05/29/15

Production
Associate

53 Crush

9.

05/28/15 Laborer

8.

05/11/15

Maintenance
Technician

Carpenter
Foreman

53 Fall

50 Crush

38 Crush

The 63 year old owner was apparently

attempting to open the motorized gate at the
shop entrance in order to leave the facility. The
control box to open the gate is on the outside of
the gate. She was on the inside. It is speculated
that she reached around the gate through an
opening to insert the key. She was found
crushed between the gate, stationary fence, and
the disconnect box.
A 30 year old feed operations manager fell to a
lower level while in an area under construction
at the facility.
A 40 year old laborer was working in an
excavation installing a drainage system for a
parking lot. While a tractor operator was
emptying a load of material into the excavation,
the tractor fell in, landing on the laborer, fatally
injuring him.
A 53 year old maintenance technician fell
approximately 20-feet from a platform to the
ground below.
A 57 year old journeyman maintenance
technician entered a robotic weld cell. The robot
arm activated pinning/crushing the employee's
head between a hitch plate and a metal fixture.
A 30 year old laborer was power washing a silo
from a boom lift raised approximately 60 feet in
the air when it contacted overhead power lines.
The laborer made it from the basket of the lift
onto the roof of the silo where he fell to the
ground below.
A 40 year old electrician foreman was preparing
to wire a fire pump to the electrical supply when
the employee received an electrical shock.
A 53 year old production associate was allegedly
crushed by the operation of a CNC machine.
An approximately 90,000 pound concrete IBeam that had been sitting on dunnage, tipped
over and fell on a 50 year old laborer, crushing
him.
A 38 year old carpenter foreman was removing
supports in the basement of the structure when
the first floor above collapsed and crushed him.

Commerce
Township

Vicksburg

Saginaw

Grand Rapids

Ionia

Lowell

Holland
Owosso

Saginaw

Ypsilanti

7.

Energy Center
05/05/15
Operator

6.

05/01/15

5.

04/24/15 Painter

4.

04/18/15

3.

04/15/15 Laborer

49 Struck By

2.

Crane
03/20/15 Operator
Trainee

61 Struck By

Part Time
Truck Driver

Shipping
Coordinator

53 Crush

48 Crush

28 Fall

41 Struck By

A 53 year old energy center operator was

cleaning sludge from the filter press machine
when the press cycled, crushing the employee
between plates in the filter press.
A 48 year old part time truck driver and another
employee were working on a truck to free a
stuck wheel brake when the truck rolled,
crushing the part time truck driver and injuring
the other employee.
A 28 year old painter was painting a guardrail on
the third story of a house and climbed over the
guardrail to paint. While holding onto a baluster
and painting with the other hand, the guardrail
gave way. The employee fell thirty feet to the
ground.
A 41 year old shipping coordinator was directing
trucks into the loading bay where trucks drive
into and out of to be loaded with steel. After
directing one truck into the bay to be loaded, the
employee was waving another up into position
when the truck that just entered backed up
striking the employee and crushing her.
A 49 year old laborer was aloft in the base of a
tree trunk where the two sections meet up (tree
crotch) removing a trunk section. The trunk
section kicked back after being cut, striking the
employee resulting in fatal injuries.
A 61 year old was fatally injured after being
struck in the head by a 9,400 pound bundle of
steel round stock he was moving with an
overhead crane.

Detroit

Houghton

Ann Arbor

Ecorse

Oakland
Township

Warren

1.

01/15/15

Sheet Metal
Worker

A 37 year old sheet metal worker was in the

process of torch cutting and welding when it is
believed he had ignited the flame-retardant
insulation between the hopper and building
structure. The fire traveled up the 65-foot tall
structure trapping the sheet metal worker inside
the hopper. Fire-Fighters were able to extricate
Severe Smoke him, but he had sustained burns to his head and
Farmington
37 Inhalation & 3rd severe burns to his hand and wrist in addition to
Hills
Degree Burns smoke inhalation. The sheet metal worker, one
other employee, four sub-contractor employees,
and two fire-fighters were transported to area
hospitals. All but the sheet metal worker and
one other employee were observed and
released. The sheet metal worker succumbed to
his injuries as a result of the fire on January 15,
2015.

Use the information in this table to build hazard awareness and prevent risk for similar occurrences in your
workplace. This table sharespreliminary details about many of the fatalities reported to the Michigan Occupational
Safety and Health Administration.

"Work Safe... Be Safe!"