Father Who Lost Son: 'You Don't Go To Work To Die'

The Boston Channel: April 27, 2010

Group Releases Report on Work Deaths, Repeated Safety Violations

BOSTON --
Last year in Massachusetts, 62 people were killed, not by a drunken driver or a shooting, but on the job.

A sobering report released by the Mass Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health says most of those deaths could have been prevented if better safety regulations were in place and enforced.

John Cordeiro misses his son Justin, who died violently at work a year ago June.

"It was the worst day of my life. He was my best friend," said Cordeiro.

"You don't go to work to die. You go to work to make a living."

Justin was crushed by a forklift at Blount Seafoods in Fall River.

"Three thousand pounds of seafood clams fell on him," said Cordeiro.

The company had been cited by the the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration less than two months prior to his death. Five serious safety violations included letting workers get too close to forklifts and other vehicles.

"We have men and women listed in this report whose employers were cited and fined year after year, and then their worker dies," said Marcy Gelb of The Mass Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health.

The coalition's new report "Dying for work in Massachusetts" has the disturbing numbers.

Last year, transportation-related accidents accounted for 11 fatalities. Falls at work caused 10 deaths. Most were in construction. Commercial fishing claimed four lives. And 13 workers from a wide range of industries died from "crush-by" accidents.

MassCosh said the federal government needs to set higher penalties, stringent safety rules and regulations must be legislated on a state level for all workers and, said MassCosh, some employers should be held criminally responsible for their workers' deaths.

"There's nothing more egregious than the Massey mine, where 29 mine workers were killed, and the company had been cited 612 times," said Bob Haynes of the AFL-CIO. "It's one thing to lose 29 workers. But everyday somebody's dying somewhere else by ones and twos."

Cordeiro doesn't blame his son's employer for his death. But he does think it could have been prevented.

"Did my son belong in that room? No. Why was he there? My son was directly beneath the fork when it fell," said Cordeiro. "He lived for his 3-year-old daughter and his car. That's what he went to work for. He never miss a day. He paid his bills. He was a good kid."