A former Fayette County physician, whose license was suspended in 2003, died at a recycling center in an industrial accident eerily similar to one that cost another employee his life 14 years before at the same facility. The fatal accident occurred at the Bullskin business that experienced the disturbingly similar incident in May, 1997.

Three bales of paper, each weighing around 1,000 to 1,200 pounds, fell on the unsuspecting former doctor as he was helping to move the large bales onto a BobCat loader. A center employee commented that the stack of paper bales was higher than it should have been. There is yet no evidence that this contributed to the accident.

Those who believe in the importance of timing may point out that another employee had been working with these paper bales for the prior week. Just before the accident, this employee was assigned to work on something else. The former physician simply may have been at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigated the 1997 accident and found seven violations, including failure to store materials properly and a failure of the company to properly train their forklift personnel. The prior accident also involved a recycled cardboard bale, weighing an estimated 1,000 pounds, that was stacked and fell onto the concrete dock where the employee was standing, pinning him and extinguishing his life.

OSHA, once again, has begun an investigation into the most recent accident. They have asked anyone with first hand information to contact the state police in Uniontown to assist in assembling the facts surrounding the accident.

Source: Tribune-Review, “Fayette man fatally crushed by bales of paper,” Dec. 20, 2011