Miguel Herrera-Soltero was working at Progressive Protein. His stepfather, Richard Leon, was also working at the plant when he heard another worker scream.

After hearing the scream, he saw his stepson on the floor with part of the forklift on his neck. Leon tried to pull the teen from under the machine but couldn’t.

Herrera-Soltero was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

OSHA standards say a forklift operator must be 18 or older. There is an exception for agriculture. Progressive Protein is a rendering plant for animal fats. Herrera-Soltero had worked at the plant just over a month.

As summer approaches, more teens will be entering the workforce. The U.S. Department of Labor has a web page that you can access here that lists jobs teens can and can’t do.

A worker at South Dakota Wheat Growers’ Bristol Grain and Agronomy was killed recently in a forklift accident.

Twenty-three-year-old Eric Bratsveen was pinned between a forklift and a trailer, according to the Aberdeen News. He died later at a hospital.

Bratsveen was attaching a plate to the trailer while a forklift was backing up. The forklift driver didn’t see him.

OSHA is investigating.

Federal statistics show there are about 85 forklift fatalities and 35,000 serious injuries per year.

The main causes of forklift fatalities are:

• tip-overs (42%)
• crushed between forklift and a surface (25%)
• crushed between forklift and another vehicle (11%)
• struck or run over by a forklift (10%)
• struck by falling material (8%), and
• fall from platform on the forks (4%).