ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, September 22, 1996 TAG: 9609200009
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: 4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
Two companies doing business in Western Virginia have each reported two workers killed on the job in recent months.
During the 1996 federal reporting year, which ends in a week, the region's overall number of workplace deaths - 11- is above the seven-year average of nine per year.
State job safety officials have cited and fined Avis Construction Co. of Roanoke and Barlett Tree Experts' Roanoke office each in one death and are investigating an additional death at each company.
The state cited and proposed a $7,000 fine against Avis in connection with the Feb. 7 death of Timothy Edward Huff, 32, at a Christiansburg construction site. He fell about 30 feet from a roof.
Also, state officials are investigating the May30 death of William Kenneth Dooley Jr., 47, of Thaxton, who died in an incident two days earlier during improvements to the LancerLot Sports Complex in Vinton. He fell about four feet from a ladder, said Barry Baird, executive vice president of Avis Construction.
Baird said Avis is contesting the fine and does not believe it was at fault in either case. Notwithstanding that, Avis has improved its safety system this year. The company followed through on plans before the deaths to hire a 16-hour-per week field safety inspector to assist the company's primary safety officer and job superintendents, Baird said.
The state also cited and proposed a $7,000 fine against Barlett, an international tree care company based in Stamford, Conn., over the Dec. 21 death of Alfred Cumbee, 62, of Salem, while he was cutting brush in Radford. An industrial mower snagged a rope around Cumbee's waist and pulled him against the cab of the mower. The impact was fatal.
Also, the state is investigating the July 23 death of Ricky Fritz, 26, in Gate City in a fall from a tree that toppled under his weight. The tree fell because of weaknesses of its roots, a condition not detected in advance. Fritz worked out of the company's Kingsport, Tenn., unit.
Bartlett has until Sept. 30 to accept or contest the fine. Spokesman Walter Dages called the accidents "freak things."
The company has nonetheless added precautions to its safety protocol that include better monitoring of rope ends tied to people and closer checking of tree stability, Dages said.
Workplace deaths are edging down in Virginia, according to Dick Crawford, director of safety enforcement for the Occupational Safety and Health Program of the state Department of Labor and Industry.
"On any given year it kind of jumps up, this year being one of them. [But] if you go back ... and put them all on a graph, the line will be down," Crawford said.
Eleven people have died in workplace industrial accidents in the state's Southwest Virginia region - an area stretching from Clifton Forge to Martinsville and west to the Cumberland Gap - in the year that began Oct. 1, 1995, and ends Sept. 30.
On-the-job deaths involving motor vehicles, mines, farm accidents or natural causes are counted separately, but those counts were not readily available.
The state in January will begin a series of radio announcements intended to raise awareness about preventing workplace deaths. Radio scriptwriters have agreed to write the spots at a reduced rate, said Nancy Jakubec, a spokeswoman for the Labor and Industry Department.
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: chart - Workplace Fatalities KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB