Company pays fine for developmentally disabled worker’s death
April 29, 2009 by Fred HosierPosted in: disabilities and safety, Fatality, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Who Got Fined and Why?
PDF The Washington state Department of Labor & Industries and Tacoma Goodwill have reached a settlement in the workplace death of a developmentally disabled worker.
Tacoma Goodwill will pay $13,300 for three violations in the death of 27-year-old Nick Miller. The violations are related to the implementation of its accident prevention program, recordkeeping and the safety features of its box tipping machines.
The company was originally hit with nine violations for a total potential fine of $50,000.
A year ago, Miller was crushed under a hydraulic tipper on Goodwill’s loading dock.
Immediately after the accident, Goodwill made voluntary safety improvements, including placement of lock-out devices on its tipper machines.
There was some confusion over whether Miller, who had the cognitive abilities of a 10-year-old, was authorized to operate the tipper, according to The News Tribune.
Some told officials Miller wasn’t authorized, but others said he was, a statement that was backed up by training records which said it was part of his regular duties.
SafetyNewsAlert.com delivers the latest Safety news once a week to the inboxes of over 270,000 Safety professionals.
Click here to sign up and start your FREE subscription to SafetyNewsAlert!
Tags: accident prevention program, box tipping machine, developmentally disabled worker
Loading ...
May 4th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
That’s so sad how Goodwill handle it. Aren’t they suppose to be there for the less fortunate and their families. I’m sure Nick will be missed by all, um, except Goodwill.
May 4th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
bill, Your statement is uncalled for. You have NO idea whether Goodwill will miss Nick or not. This fatal incident will have an impact on many people for years to come. You can’t go by what you read in the media. You should know better.
May 4th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Just the fact that they would deny he was trained and it was part of his regular duties, when they have that info recorded tells me enough.
June 29th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Goodwill should be fined several million dollars - period.
June 29th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
That’s the way I feel Richard. I hope that family takes them down. All they’re (Goodwill is) doing is thinking about themselves.
June 30th, 2009 at 9:30 am
I’m glad some of you folks are not actually sitting in positions of judgement in our justice system. You jump to a lot of conclusions from what you read in a short media piece. What happened to getting the FACTS?!?!? If you think the facts are in the media…well, enough said.
June 30th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
The only important fact is that this individual is dead. Nothing you can say will change that now. Perhaps if you were involved prior to this individual getting killed you could have made sure he was protected. I too realize the media is full of crap but that doesn’t change the only important fact here -he’s dead and a few million dollars to his family will prevent GoodWill from allowing this to happen again. I also get tired of hearing the excuse for why someone in his condition is allowed to get killed -as if his life is less important than someone without a disability.
June 30th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Then tell me where to get the facts? They’ll probably be the same as the media. Besides, the media isn’t wrong all the time. Did you notice that Goodwill only made safety improvements after they caused the death of this innocent person?
June 30th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
I agree with you Bill - however you will not be allowed to know the facts. Your best bet would be to find out from the OSHA office in Washington where this incident occurred. Good luck with that one. As for Steve AKA Tired of it Says, you would not be so concerned with who’s at fault if this were your Son. Perhaps you work at the Tacoma Goodwill? Although I agree with practically nothing that Obama says and does he is right on one topic - Owners will pay stiffer and higher fines and court time for accidents at work due to negligence on the part of the Owner/Manager. That’s right -jail time for the store manager.
July 1st, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Look, there are 13 lines of “information” in the article. You certainly cannot have all the facts in 13 lines. I have been involved in three serious injury investigations with OSHA in my career. REAMS of information and facts are gathered before conclusions are reached by any party. It truly takes that kind of analysis to understand what happened, why it happened, and what must be done to prevent it from happening again. I’m not saying Tacoma Goodwill is innocent or guilty of neglect, but they ARE entitled to the presumption of innocence (just like you and I) until proven guilty. As far as I know, Goodwill is a good organization overall. They provide employment for many people with various types of disabilities and provide a community service as well. They are not exempt from the OSHA regulations or rules, like any other employer. If they are found negligent (and they probably will be - OSHA almost always figures out a way to make find the company negligent, via the General Duty Clause if necessary), the appropriate penalties will be applied. Then the penalties will be negotiated down when the company appeals.
Richard is correct, we will not be allowed to know all the facts - they are confidential for the most part, between the company and OSHA unless the case goes to trial. Even then, some facts may be held in confidence for various reasons.
The fact that Goodwill made “voluntary safety improvements” after the fatality is nothibng unusual and the statement is misleading (on purpose?). OSHA EXPECTS a company to make immediate remedial actions after a serious injury or fatality. This does not mean the company basically said “Oh, now that someone got killed, we’ll fix something,” but that is what the writer of the article is trying to imply. A lack of immediate remedial response on the company’s part would be seen in very bad light by OSHA.
The cold, hard fact is that a young man is dead - and so is Michael Jackson. Unfortunately, once someone is dead, the law (“the law is a ass”) and politics govern the aftermath.