Authorities say that a 42-year-old driver of a logging truck was killed while delivering a load of logs at a log home manufacturing company. The Los Molinos, California man reportedly arrived at the manufacturing company in Chico, California during the early afternoon May 21. The man was unfastening tie down chains when a massive log slipped loose and cascaded down in the fatal industrial accident, according to preliminary investigative information.
The worker was rushed to Enloe Hospital, but the trucker succumbed to his injuries sometime later the same day at the hospital. Local police and fire personnel opened the preliminary investigation after the accident was reported. The California Division of Occupational Health and Safety was notified of the fatal industrial accident.
Preliminary findings reported in new accounts are often based upon observations and the limited information developed in the immediate aftermath of a tragedy. Local officials and investigators from Cal-OSHA often spend a great deal of time trying to develop facts after an industrial accident. Obviously, worker safety is an important issue in a construction industry or industrial accident investigation. But determining what happened in detail serves other important purposes.
Workers injured in an accident, and the families of victims killed in an industrial accident are often left without answers as to what occurred until officials investigations, and at times, independent investigations have been complete.
Industrial accidents can obviously have dire results. Accident victims and their families may not only gain some form of closure after learning the complete details, but also, the details may help families to recover after the devastating event. Victims or their families may be entitled to benefits under workers’ compensation laws, or other civil remedies, depending on the results of all forms of investigations.
Source: KHSL-TV, “Man Struck by Large Log in South Chico Dies,” May 23, 2013
