California workers that handle heavy materials, such as salt or sand piles, know that the work can be dangerous. Moving or digging through these materials can put workers at risk, as the weight alone can cause accidents and injuries that are hard to get a handle on. Recently, a man suffered a fatal work injury after being crushed under salt.
The man who lost his life was using an excavator to move a large pile of rock salt. He was working at a storage facility when the accident occurred in another state. The huge pile of rock salt collapsed around the equipment the man was in. The rock salt pile was described as 100 feet tall.
Rescuers were called to the scene to assist efforts to free the man. The pile was just too much for workers or others to reach the man. They eventually used other pieces of equipment to reach the excavator and pull it free from the salt. Tragically, the man did not survive the Pennsylvania incident.
Whenever a worker has suffered a fatal work injury, the cost to his or her family can be difficult to put a number on. However, in California and elsewhere, there are protections in place to help the families of those left behind when a worker has been killed on the job. Anyone who works with dangerous materials or in industries where getting buried by materials such as sand or salt is a possibility may benefit from understanding their rights if they were to be hurt or those of their family were they to be fatally injured on the job.
Source: philadelphia.cbslocal.com, Worker Crushed To Death By 100-Foot Rock Salt Pile In Bucks County, Tim Jimenez, Jan. 2, 2014