Nick Coleman: High death toll for workers makes for grim end to 2007

Gene White was the first. He was fixing a flagpole in St. Paul in January when a 10-pound ball on top of the 70-foot pole fell and killed him.

Fidel Danilo Sanchez-Flores was the last. He was cleaning snow off the Crystal Court when he fell through a glass panel to his death.

And they were not alone. Minnesota seems to be suffering a grim toll of worker deaths this year, a reminder of the dangers many face on the job, and of the need to remain vigilant in enforcing job training and safety standards.

David Yasis and Joe Harlow were working on a sewer project when a rainstorm swept them away. When the Interstate 35W bridge fell, Paul Eickstadt was driving a bread truck across it, and Greg Jolstad was operating a front-end loader. Nick Gunter was on top of a 10,000-gallon tank at a refinery, checking gauges, when it exploded. Steve Arnovich and Dave Mussatti Jr. were welders, fixing a pipeline, when leaking fuel burst into flames. Randall Puppe was cleaning an industrial machine when a lid fell, trapping him inside. Troy Nelson was driving a forklift when it tipped over and crushed him. And Susan Leukam was filing papers in a hospital, using an automated filing machine, when she was caught in the machine and killed.

With White and Sanchez-Flores, they make 12 of the dozens of Minnesotans who lost their lives in work-related accidents so far in 2007, which could wind up as one of the deadliest years in a long time.

An average of 79 Minnesota workers (including eight or nine women) died in each of the five years from 2002 through 2006, according to the state Department of Labor & Industry. The official number of fatalities for this year won't be known until next year. But if you think the number of deadly workplace accidents has gone up sharply in recent weeks and months, you may be right.

The number of accidents investigated by the Minnesota Occupational Safety and Healthy Administration in the first six months of 2007 has almost tripled during the second half of this year.

The first half of 2007 seemed relatively safe, with only eight deaths investigated. But since July 1, the number of deaths has increased dramatically, with 21 more cases being opened, for a total so far of 29.

"We have a lot of open, active investigations," said Honerman. "Safety is day to day at a work site, and folks need an active safety and health program. But accidents do happen. And we may have had a larger-than-usual number since June."

The second-half fatalities include the two sewer deaths in St. Paul in July, the workers who died while on the job in the bridge collapse, the pipeline and refinery workers, and the death of the hospital worker while filing papers. It also includes the man crushed in the industrial machine, a worker who fell in a grain elevator, one crushed by a utility pole, and more.

It has been a brutal work scene lately. And it will make for a brutal Christmas season for too many families.

It isn't known yet what safety procedures were in use in the latest worker death, at the Crystal Court. The state's Honerman said inspectors were on the scene Wednesday evening, and would be examining "exactly what type of work they were doing, and the type of training and fall protection equipment [that] was in use at the time of the accident."

"Hey, let's be careful out there."