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2018 MIOSHA Fatality Information
Use the information in this table to build hazard awareness and prevent risk for similar occurrences in your workplace. This table shares preliminary details about many of the fatalities reported to the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration. These descriptions reflect information provided to MIOSHA at the initial report of the incident and are not the result of the official MIOSHA investigation.
When available, MIFACE Summaries of MIOSHA Inspections will be included at the end of the description.
Fatality Number |
Date |
Occupation |
Age |
Type of Incident |
Description |
Incident Location (City) |
1. | 01/10/18 | Tow Truck Driver | 42 | Struck by | A 42-year-old tow truck driver had just placed a disabled vehicle onto a flatbed wrecker. After securing the front of the vehicle, he proceeded to the rear, at which time his tow truck was struck from the rear by another vehicle. MIFACE Inspection Summary | Bridgeport |
2. | 02/26/18 | Laborer | 39 | Buried | A 39-year-old laborer was attempting to cap off the sewer line in an excavation approximately 29 feet long, 6 feet wide, and 9-12 feet deep when the excavation collapsed/caved-in on the laborer. MIFACE Inspection Summary | Sterling Heights |
3. | 02/26/18 | Park and Recreation Ranger | 65 | Struck by | A 65-year-old park and recreation ranger was operating an all-terrain type vehicle while grooming a ski trail. He was broadsided by a snowmobile crossing the trail. MIFACE Inspection Summary | Brimley |
4. | 03/30/18 | Special Education Teacher | 57 | Other |
On March 23rd, a 57-year-old special education teacher was performing morning drop off duties on a public roadway when she was struck by a motor vehicle. The teacher passed away from her injuries on March 30, 2018. MIFACE Inspection Summary |
Mt. Clemens |
5. | 04/04/18 | Bus Driver | 52 | Cardio-vascular; respiratory system failure | On March 15th, a 52-year-old bus driver slipped and fell on ice/snow while walking through the parking lot on the way to his car after completing his morning bus run. His left femur was fractured and he was sent to the hospital. The bus driver was recuperating at home when he died of an apparent heart attack on April 4, 2018. MIFACE Inspection Summary | Rudyard |
6. | 04/27/18 | Laborer | 50 | Struck by |
A 50-year-old laborer working for a demolition company was engaged in fire watch duties when a piece that was being cut fell, striking him in the chest. MIFACE Inspection Summary |
Wyandotte |
7. | 04/30/18 | Truck Driver | 55 | Shock | A 55-year-old truck driver had dumped a load of topsoil with a dump truck. At some point, the raised dump-bed of the truck contacted power lines and pulled the primary pole down. The primary lines were hooked inside the raised dump-bed. It appeared that after leaving the cab of the dump-truck, the driver's hand contacted something that was energized. He was pronounced deceased at the scene. MIFACE Inspection Summary | Oak Park |
8. | 05/04/18 | Foreman | 36 | Struck by | A 36-year-old foreman was moving leaves into a pile on the property. A coworker had gone to move a truck and heard a tree crackle. When he came back, he found that a tree branch had fallen on the foreman and crushed him. MIFACE Inspection Summary | Clarkston |
9. | 05/08/18 | Machine Operator | 52 | Struck by | Two employees were operating a tube cutting machine, cutting metal tube rollers to size, in a facility that manufactures roller conveyors. The tube didn't cut all the way through, so the 52-year-old machine operator adjusted the machine rpm to cut another piece. The cut left a burr which caught on the cutting blade causing the roller to fly up. The end of the roller caught the machine operator in the neck cutting him. Emergency services were called, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. MIFACE Inspection Summary | Lachine |
10. | 05/23/18 | Asphalt Paving Crew | 20 | Caught in or between | A 20-year-old asphalt paving crew member was struck by a dump truck on site. MIFACE Inspection Summary | South Lyon |
11. | 05/29/18 | Tow Truck Driver | 42 | Struck by | A 42-year-old tow truck driver was responding to a disabled school bus on the interstate. The tow truck driver pulled over to tow the school bus. He went to the passenger side to talk to the bus driver opposite the side of oncoming traffic, and it was at this time the bus was struck from behind by a passenger vehicle. When the bus was struck it was pushed forward striking the tow truck driver. MIFACE Inspection Summary | Ypsilanti |
12. | 05/26/18 | Farm Helper | 54 | Fall (from elevation) | A 54-year-old farm helper was on a ladder when a tractor trailer backed up and bumped the ladder. The farm helper fell and hit his body and head on the tractor trailer. He was rushed to the hospital where he passed away from his injuries during transport. MIFACE Inspection Summary | Saginaw |
13. | 06/14/18 | Operating Engineer | 57 | Struck by | A 57-year-old operating engineer was struck by a passenger vehicle that entered the work zone. Another worker was injured and the operating engineer was killed. MIFACE Inspection Summary | Detroit |
14. | 06/14/18 | Mechanic | 25 | Struck by | A 25-year-old mechanic was on a ladder working on an 8” water line. The cap on the line was pressurized; it blew off, resulting in the fatality. MIFACE Inspection Summary | Flint |
15. | 05/19/18 | Indirect Laborer | 55 | Fall (same level) | A 55-year-old indirect laborer tripped over a piece of plastic banding and fell to the concrete floor. He reported the fall and possible injury to management. Management offered to send him for medical treatment, but he declined treatment. After he went home, his spouse took him to the local hospital. He was treated for a fractured elbow and released on May 17th, the same day as the accident. An appointment with an orthopedic surgeon was scheduled for May 21st. His spouse called management on May 21st and told them that he had died on May 19th. The death certificate obtained from the Medical Examiner lists the cause of the worker's death as peritoneal hemorrhage and liver laceration. MIFACE Inspection Summary | Saginaw |
16. | 07/16/18 | Machine Adjuster | 44 | Shock |
A 44-year-old machine adjuster was adding inks to a printing machine. He was found unresponsive and slumped over on top of an electrical and pneumatic pump area of the printing machine. He had apparent electrical burns on his left and right arms, chest and abdomen. MIFACE Inspection Summary |
Walled Lake |
17. | 07/30/18 | Assembly | 61 | Struck by | A 61-year-old assembly worker was walking from the work area to the break room when a pressurized 6-inch steel water pipe that was 15 feet up, fell and struck her in the head. MIFACE Inspection Summary | Evart |
18. | 08/02/18 | Technician | 44 | Struck by | On July 31st, a 44-year-old technician was struck by a vehicle on M-25 while locating utilities. He passed away on August 2nd, from the injuries sustained. MIFACE Inspection Summary | Fort Gratiot Township |
19. | 08/15/18 | Police Officer | 30 | Struck by | On August 4th, a 30-year-old police officer was trying to disperse a crowd in the street and routing the traffic in Detroit when he was struck by a car. The officer died of his injuries on August 15, 2018. MIFACE Inspection Summary | Detroit |
20. | 07/12/18 | Owner | 71 | Caught in or between | A 71-year-old owner was found trapped in a front-end loader. The owner was deceased at the time he was found. The death certificate from the medical examiner indicates that he died as a result of traumatic asphyxiation due to being compressed in the front-end loader. MIFACE Inspection Summary | Roseville |
21. | 09/18/18 | Garbage Truck Driver | 28 | Caught in or between | A 28-year-old garbage truck driver, along with a helper, had been collecting trash on a rural county road. The garbage truck driver had parked the garbage truck completely in the east bound lane due to drainage ditches on the roadsides. He was at the back of the garbage truck loading trash when he was struck and pinned to the garbage truck by a full-size pick-up truck hauling a pop-up camper traveling east bound. The driver in the pick-up truck told reporting police officers the sun was in his eyes and he could not see the garbage truck until it was too late. MIFACE Inspection Summary | Brooklyn |
22. | 09/24/18 | Journeyman Electrician | 62 | Struck by | A 62-year-old journeyman electrician was preparing electrical equipment for relocation to be performed later. He was later found on the floor under the equipment that was previously mounted to the wall. MIFACE Inspection Summary | Detroit |
23. | 09/25/18 | Laborer | 20 | Struck by | A vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed entered the work zone and struck two workers. A 20-year-old laborer was killed, the other worker was hospitalized. MIFACE Inspection Summary | Bear Lake |
24. | 09/24/18 | Business Owner & Tree Trimmer | 62 | Fall (from elevation) | A 62-year-old business owner/tree trimmer was up in a bucket lift, trimming a tree at an apartment complex. He
cut off a large branch of a tree. The branch snapped back and threw the employee out of the bucket. He hit the ground approximately 30 feet below the bucket. MIFACE Inspection Summary
|
East Lansing |
25. | 10/05/18 | Journeyman Line Worker | 51 | Shock |
A two-person crew was getting set to replace an electrical pole and while removing the new pole from their truck, contacted the overhead 7200-volt electrical line with the truck boom causing a 51-year-old journeyman line worker at the back of the truck to be electrocuted. MIFACE Inspection Summary |
Traverse City |
26. | 04/11/18 | Farm Hand | 64 | Struck by | A 64-year-old farm hand was in the barn with her employer and cows getting ready to feed them dinner. She and her employer were out of each other's sight when the employer heard what sounded like cows scurrying. The employer went to check and found her down, amongst the cows. The employer suspected that she was attacked by his bull. MIFACE Inspection Summary |
Saline |
27. | 09/05/18 | Machine Operator | 49 | Shock | A 49-year-old machine operator came back from lunch and went back to work on his machine. At some point, two coworkers found him kneeling by the machine and checked on him. The coworker that touched him thought he felt a shock when he touched him. The victim fell to the ground and was not breathing. Emergency services were called and the victim could not be revived. MIFACE Inspection Summary | Ann Arbor |
28. | 10/08/18 | Company Owner | 60 | Fall (from elevation) | A 60-year-old company owner was standing inside of the bucket of a front-loader. His foot slipped and he fell out of the bucket, approximately seven feet, onto a hard surface. EMS was called by his son, who was onsite, and they immediately responded, transporting him to a local hospital. He was subsequently transferred to a different hospital out of state and died later that day. Based on medical records obtained from the medical examiner’s office, this was determined an accidental death due to the fall. MIFACE Inspection Summary | Menominee |
29. | 10/20/18 | Laborer | 48 | Struck by | A 48-year-old laborer was struck by a 16-foot-long scaffold plank while performing demolition activities. The scaffold plank fell from approximately 90 feet above. MIFACE Inspection Summary | Grand Rapids |
30. | 07/12/18 | Blaster | 29 | Inhalation | A 29-year-old blaster was abrasive blasting large cryogenic tanks with steel shot for refurbishing. The employee was found at approximately 3:00 p.m. collapsed on the floor with his blasting hood still on. He was pronounced deceased at the scene. | Ottawa Lake |
31. | 10/26/18 | Roofer | 41 | Fall (from elevation) | A 41-year-old roofer fell 30 feet through a skylight. He was handling material and tools when the incident occurred. MIFACE Inspection Summary |
Rochester Hills |
32. | 10/14/18 | Carpenter | 60 | Fall (from elevation) | On October 11th, a 60-year-old carpenter was removing a ceiling in a cold storage area and fell from an eight-foot stepladder, striking his head on a concrete floor. The carpenter was hospitalized and later succumbed to his injuries on October 14, 2018.MIFACE Inspection Summary | Berrien Springs |
33. | 10/22/18 | Heat Treating Equipment Operator | 62 | Bite; sting; or scratch |
On August 21, 2018, a 62-year-old heat treating equipment operator told a coworker that he had injured his leg when a part fell on it. He called off work for the next several days. On August 29th, the company was notified that he had been hospitalized for an infection due to the scratch/cut on his leg. On October 22nd, the company was notified that the employee had passed away due to complications associated with the infection. MIFACE Inspection Summary |
Warren |
34. | 11/30/18 | Veterinarian | 35 | Struck by | On November 30th, a 35-year-old veterinarian was found buried under a pile of silage at a dairy farm. The silage was outdoors on the ground. A farmhand and another employee pulled the veterinarian from the silage, started CPR, and called EMS. He was later pronounced dead by the county medical examiner's office at the hospital. It is believed that the silage collapsed onto the veterinarian while he was perhaps taking a sample of the silage for analysis. The farmhand who found him was moving silage with a front-end loader from the silage pile to a mechanical spreader that filled the feeding bins. According to the farmhand, the location of the veterinarian’s body indicated that he had been near the sheer face of the silage pile that was being removed by the front-end loader. There were no witnesses to the actual collapse of the pile onto the veterinarian. MIFACE Inspection Summary | Grand Rapids |
35. | 12/04/18 | Mechanic | 24 | Struck by |
A 24-year-old mechanic was found underneath a powered industrial truck. |
Wayland |
36. | 12/12/18 | Operator | 36 | Struck by | A 36-year-old operator was loading garbage at a transfer facility and was run over by a front-end loader. MIFACE Inspection Summary |
Detroit |
37. | 12/15/18 | General Maintenance | 44 | Explosion |
On December 15, 2018, a 44-year-old general maintenance worker died from injuries sustained from a propane gas explosion that occurred on July 8th.Propane tanks were being used to heat a cabin to exterminate bedbugs. MIFACE Inspection Summary |
Jones |
38. | 03/28/18 | Truck Driver | 64 | Fall (from elevation) |
On March 16, 2018, a 64-year-old truck driver was found down next to the loader he was driving. It appears that he had fallen head first. The fall was unwitnessed and was approximately 10-15 feet. He passed away on March 28, 2018, from his injuries. MIFACE Inspection Summary |
Alma |
There were 39 MIOSHA-related deaths in 2017. 2009 saw the lowest number with 24.
If you need help or assistance in ensuring your workplace is safe, MIOSHA is here with resources to help. The Consultation Education
and Training (CET) Division provides workplace safety and health training and consultations to employers and employees throughout
Michigan free of charge. Contact CET today at 800-866-4674 or submit a request online at www.michigan.gov/cetrca.
Every life is precious. Our mutual goal must be that every employee goes home at the end of their shift every day!