Looks like yet another case of one of those companies not "concerned for the welfare of their employees and ... fully prepared to comply with laws aimed at enhancing their safety on the job" to send to Senator Enzi.
SEIU Local 615 and the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH) are calling for a criminal investigation into a May 8 fatal incident where one window washer, Jose Camara, was killed and another seriously injured after falling 90 feet. The workers were employed by UNICCO Services, which, according to MassCOSH and SEIU, had failed to provide training and proper safeguards.
But, that, of course, is not the entire story:
The MassCOSH report states that UNICCO's failure to implement safety measures ordered in 2003 after a fatal accident involving two window cleaners, "...not only cut short the life of one worker and seriously injured a second but put the lives of all of its window cleaners in jeopardy."OSHA fined Unicco $23,500 for the 2003 fatalities.
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"These reports place the responsibility for the accident squarely on the shoulders of UNICCO's faulty safety procedures, " said Rocio Saenz, president of SEIU Local 615. "We are asking OSHA to refer this case to the judicial department, to seek criminal indictments if they find that UNICCO willfully violated the law."
"UNICCO failed to implement the safety requirements called for by OSHA more than two years ago. Had UNICCO observed these basic and critical safety measures, the death and serious injury of two additional workers this June 8 in all likelihood would have been prevented," the MassCOSH report stated.
The fatal accident was the result of willful disregard of both industry practices and specific OSHA direction that would have protected these workers from harm, had they been followed.
You can read more about both accidents here.
