PORT ANGELES — The state Division of Labor and Industries is investigating the loss of life of a truck driver who was struck by a 1,500-pound cardboard bale at a McKinley Paper Firm unloading space.
Joseph Coolidge Oiness, 47, of Sequim, was pronounced lifeless Thursday afternoon at Olympic Medical Middle following the
1:15 p.m. incident on the Ediz Hook mill west of downtown Port Angeles, in response to a Port Angeles Police Division report.
The Previous Blyn Freeway resident, a driver for Hermann Brothers Logging & Building Inc. of Port Angeles, was opening the rear doorways of a semi-trailer loaded with compressed bales of cardboard, a spokesperson for the Labor and Industries mentioned Friday.
The company is conducting an investigation of the corporate because it does for all office fatalities, Dina Lorraine of Labor & Industries mentioned Friday.
“A while throughout the transport the load shifted,” she mentioned in an e-mail.
“When the worker unlatched the final door the burden of the bales leaning towards the door compelled the door open and a 1,500-pound bale of compressed cardboard landed on the worker.”
Oiness had been employed at Hermann Brothers for about 10 years and that he had a high-school-age daughter, in response to co-owner Invoice Hermann.
A McKinley Paper Firm spokesperson didn’t return requires remark.
There have been no eyewitnesses, in response to a police report.
An organization forklift driver who unloads the bales informed police he noticed Oiness’ truck again as much as the corporate docks.
He mentioned he turned away to load extra of the big bundles on a conveyor and seemed again to see Oiness on the bottom, his midsection and legs lined by certainly one of two bales that had fallen out of the truck.
Oiness was screaming that his again had been damaged, the forklift operator mentioned.
He and a coworker lifted the bale off of Oiness, who quickly misplaced consciousness.
Security and Coaching Supervisor Grant Rider mentioned Oiness was unconscious when he arrived on the scene.
He mentioned it appeared that Oiness opened the primary door on the precise of the again of the truck and latched it shut to the trailer earlier than opening the second door, which swung open and knocked Oiness down, in response to the police report.
Viada mentioned medics responded, and Oiness was transported to OMC.
Photographs of the scene have been taken after he was taken to the hospital, Rider mentioned. It had been cleared and cleaned by the point police arrived.
Hermann mentioned Friday the cube-shaped bales have been transported, unstrapped or untied down, in a 53-foot truck.
“They stack them in there and the trailer accommodates them,” he mentioned.
“Why this unhappy factor occurred, I don’t know, and we’re actually going to overlook his skills, that’s for positive.
“It’s only a very unhappy occasion, and something I say could be speculative.”
Viada mentioned the police investigation has been closed.
Clallam County Prosecuting Legal professional-Coroner Mark Nichols mentioned Oiness’ stays have been transported Friday to the King County Medical Examiner’s Workplace for an post-mortem.
The Labor & Industries investigation included interviews carried out Friday at McKinley that have been accomplished, Lorraine mentioned.
The company’s assessment of security protocols is targeted on Hermann Brothers, she mentioned.
“In the event that they discover something, they challenge a quotation,” Lorraine mentioned, including the corporate additionally may very well be fined.
The investigation may take as much as six months.
“One of many issues we are going to take a look at is the truck, and if [the load] wanted to be secured,” she mentioned.
“That’s a ‘gimme.’”
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Senior Employees Author Paul Gottlieb will be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at [email protected]