Construction Foreman Killed in Work Accident near Halsey St in Houston, TX
Houston, TX — May 31, 2022, a construction worker died after becoming trapped in machinery at a work site off the East Freeway in Houston.
According to preliminary reports the incident happened around 11:00 a.m. on the 12700 block of the East Freeway near Halsey Street. Investigators believe that construction crews were drilling a hole in the ground using a trenching machine. The site foreman somehow fell into the 20-foot hole where the machine was digging and became entangled with the active equipment.
The foreman suffered fatal injuries.
No further information is currently available.
Commentary on Job Site Accident off East Fwy in Houston
There are many reasons someone could get hurt at a busy construction site, and with multiple contractors potentially involved getting a straight answer about who's to blame for the accident (if anyone is) may not be easy. Companies often clash after these incidents as each tries to place the bulk of the fault on the other.
Some may think that bickering will be resolved if OSHA weighs in as they often do following workplace accidents. It's understandable to think the government agency specifically meant to investigate this kind of thing might shed some light on what happened, but I've seen plenty of OSHA reports in my time and that's not always the case.
OSHA often takes a long time to reach any meaningful conclusions, and even once they do the information they release publicly is minimal. More than that, the only punishments they generally dish out are administrative, like fines--hardly justice for the serious damage many workers suffer.
Some may not think any of that's really a problem since "workers' comp will handle it." In most cases that's true, but as I originally mentioned these job sites are often bustling anthills of many different contracted companies working together. Some dig up the dirt, others move it out of the way, another group trucks in materials, etc. Workers' comp benefits only bar an injured employee from taking action against his own employer. When he's hurt or killed by another company's employee, even on the same job site, workers' comp doesn't bar him or his loved ones from seeking help from the other company.
Ultimately this may be more complicated than it appears at first, and it needs careful investigation to know for sure. Hopefully some light can soon be shed on how this terrible incident happened, but no matter what's learned the victim's family deserve whatever answers can be found for them.
