As I was helping put together the Weekly Toll this week, I came across this article:

Construction Worker Killed By Falling Granite

Authorities say a construction worker was killed Thursday when a slab of granite being unloaded from a truck fell on him outside Cardinal Kitchens in the 200 block of east Wampum Avenue. Deputy Coroner Bob Jones says the victim was 42-year-old Timmie Neals of Louisville.

***

Police say he was helping unload the six sheets of granite that were supported by two straps attached to a crane when one of the pieces fell on him.

Johnny Drake told he had worked at Cardinal Kitchens for more than two years before he was laid off. He said a similar incident happened when he was working there. "That happened to me one time -- the straps didn't break, they just tumbled out."

An internal memo provided by another worker who did not want to be identified details that incident last October 28th, when two workers were unloading five granite sheets -- weighing about three tons -- when the load tilted and slid out of the supporting straps.

The granite hit the ground and no one was hurt. "When that strap breaks, it's going to go, Drake said. ""You've just got to run, and hope to get out of the way."

A safety team was called to investigate the quote "potentially life threatening accident," though it's not clear whether additional safety measures were put in place.

Hmm. Haven't I seen this before. Doing a search of past Weekly Tolls, we find these:

Construction worker crushed to death

Valparaiso, IN- More than two tons of granite fell on a worker at a construction site in Valparaiso, killing him. Twenty-four-year-old Damon Daniels of Michigan City was pronounced dead at the site Tuesday afternoon by emergency workers. Police say the likely cause of death was suffocation from the weight of the five, 1,0000-pound granite slabs.

And this

A worker was critically injured Monday afternoon after being pinned by large granite slabs at a business in the city’s Westfield section.

MIDDLETOWN -- Emergency personnel were called out at approximately 2:02 p.m. to Ferazzoli Imports of New England in the Galleria Design Center at 234 Middle St., according to reports. Middletown Police were called out to investigate the industrial accident in which an employee was injured by large pieces of granite. A 42-year-old male employee was working in a container outside, and he was moving out a bundle of granite slabs, Middletown Police Capt. Christopher Barrow, detective division commander, said. At that time, a bundle of granite slabs slipped and fell, pinning the worker the worker across the chest, Barrow said.

And this:

One killed, one injured in freak Pueblo mishap

Pueblo, CO -- A two thousand pound slab of granite kills a Pueblo man in what police are calling an industrial accident.

It happened this morning at tile house on north freeway road.

Police say when they arrived they found one man dead and another seriously injured.

Both were working in the back of a large trailer. The coroner says 62-year old Billy Joe Petross died after having his chest crushed by the granite slab.

And this

Worker killed in construction accident

1,500 pounds of granite slabs fall on 22-year-old

Mercer Island, WA -- A 22-year-old man was fatally injured Monday morning when a stack of granite slabs slid off a forklift and hit him in the head at the construction site of Avellino Condominiums.

Mercer Island Fire Chief Walt Mauldin said Shengzhen Ou, 22, was unconscious and not breathing when medics arrived, and they performed CPR on the way to the hospital.

And this:

Worker crushed by stacks of granite while on the job

SOUTHAVEN, Miss. -- A Tennessee man was crushed to death yesterday in Mississippi by slabs of granite weighing several hundred tons. DeSoto County Coroner Jeff Pounders says 22-year-old Darrell Swank, of Collierville, Tennessee, was an employee of Global Granite in Southaven. Pounders says Swank died when two stacks of granite fell on him as he tried to move them with an overhead lift. Swank was alone in the back of the warehouse when the accident occurred. A fellow employee had left just before the accident after injuring his finger.

And this:

Granite slabs crush stone worker to death

SCHILLER PARK, IL -- A Chicago man was killed when 6,000 pounds of granite fell on him Thursday while he was on the job at a stone fabrication and installation company in Schiller Park, police said. Ivan Caudillo, 21, of the 2500 block of South Albany Avenue, was pronounced dead at Euro Marble and Granite.

And this:

OSHA looking into death

Kansas City -A compliance officer with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration was sent to Neosho Monday to begin investigating the death of a worker at a local granite company. Paul Sikes, 38, was killed Friday morning at Neosho's Signature Granite when 10 sheets of granite weighing between 700 to 900 pounds each fell on him. The company is located just off of Missouri Highway 86 at 12837 Keith Lane.

And this:

Worker dies from injuries in granite accident

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) -- A 37-year-old worker died Wednesday after several large granite counter tops fell onto him, authorities and hospital officials said.

Jose Cuadrado of New Bedford was crushed under several granite slabs in the 10 a.m. accident at Euro Granite & Tile Co., New Bedford police said.

He later died at St. Luke's Hospital, said Maria Swallow, the hospital's administrative supervisor.

And this:

Worker Killed When Load Of Granite Falls On Him

BRUNSWICK, Ohio -- A delivery truck driver was killed in Brunswick on Monday when a load of granite he was delivering fell on top on him.

The accident happened just after 9 a.m. on Pearl Road. The truck driver was trying to un-strap the granite when it became unstable and fell on him, pinning him against the truck.

He was taken to South West General Hospital, where he died.

And this

OSHA is to review fatal work accident

BRUNSWICK HILLS TWP. - The federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration is expected to probe Tuesday's death of a delivery man crushed by about a ton of granite slabs.

And this:

Construction worker crushed to death

Valparaiso, IN- More than two tons of granite fell on a worker at a construction site in Valparaiso, killing him. Twenty-four-year-old Damon Daniels of Michigan City was pronounced dead at the site Tuesday afternoon by emergency workers. Police say the likely cause of death was suffocation from the weight of the five, 1,0000-pound granite slabs.

And this:

Greater peril for foreign workers

FRAMINGHAM MA -- The death of Brazilian Valdecir Rodrigues this week in an industrial accident is the latest incident in a growing trend of workplace fatalities among immigrants that researchers find troubling. Rodrigues, who died Monday when more than a ton of granite slabs fell and crushed him at a Marlborough plant, is the first Brazilian death on the job this year. Since 1999, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's Occupational Health Surveillance Program, 11 other Brazilians have died on the job.

OSHA issued a Safety and Health Information Bulletin on Hazards Associated with Transporting Granite and Marble Slabs last year, but given the carnage we've seen, the situation might call for more than just a fact sheet.