On Wednesday, regional airline Piedmont was fined $15,625 (£12,285) by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for the death of a ground crew worker six-months earlier in a similar incident in Alabama.
That doesn’t seem like a very large fine for someone dying, not to mention people might be criminally responsible. (Some reporting on this subject is written to imply that this was a suicide, but that seems unclear to me.)
edited to add: it was revealed after this comment that it was in fact a suicide
This is actually the maximum amount OSHA can fine for a single instance. My understanding (not an expert or anything) is that these amounts are set in legislation, so OSHA can’t increase them without Congress.
Well that’s upsetting.
The fine is from an unrelated, earlier incident in Alabama. From what I found on jalopnik:
Earlier this year, a worker was killed by being sucked into an airplane engine in Alabama on New Year’s Eve. The employee in that scenario was warned several times that the plane’s engines would be on, however. Still, OSHA hit the small airline Piedmont with a fine of $15,625 in the workers death.
This incident with Delta that happened in Texas is under investigation.
On Wednesday, regional airline Piedmont was fined $15,625 (£12,285) by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for the death of a ground crew worker six-months earlier in a similar incident in Alabama.
So im confused. Not the same airlines nor airport between the deaths, but the accidents are so rare they mentioned both? yet delta says it is unrelated to safety procedures, but again this happens rarely enough to bring up it happened twice recently?
Are people overworked and falling asleep? Last i heard they’re understaffed anyway?
Are people overworked and falling asleep? Last i heard they’re understaffed anyway?
airline workers generally have it extremely poor, as i understand. a big group of them recently unionized in Charlotte, NC and they were getting paid as low as $12/hr for workweeks that could be 60 hours or more in length
Yeah that’s what i have heard. Years ago i was told to apply, but i physically cannot do that kind of work. I wouldn’t be shocked they had safety procedures that an overworked and tired person might not be able to always follow. I rarely fly but the staff gets usually treated like servants. :(
Posted this below, but the fine is from an unrelated, earlier incident in Alabama. From what I found on jalopnik:
Earlier this year, a worker was killed by being sucked into an airplane engine in Alabama on New Year’s Eve. The employee in that scenario was warned several times that the plane’s engines would be on, however. Still, OSHA hit the small airline Piedmont with a fine of $15,625 in the workers death.
This incident with Delta that happened in Texas is under investigation. I would be surprised if no safety procedures were violated in this incident. Well-written safety procedures that are followed should make this almost impossible to happen.
Officials have not yet named the employee of Unifi Aviation, which Delta Air Lines contracts for ground crew operations,
“From our initial investigation, this incident was unrelated to Unifi’s operational processes, safety procedures and policies,” the company said.
From the posted article, they already claim no safety issue, but unknown cause.
