March 2, 2016 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 7Comment

Ascencion Molina Medina’s work-related death could have been prevented. That’s how I see the findings from South Carolina OSHA in the agency’s citations against his employer, G M Framing.

The 44 year-old was working in July 2015 at a construction project for a residential and retail development called Main + Stone in Greenville, SC.  The general contractor of the Main + Stone development is Yeargin Potter Shackelford Construction.

The initial press reports indicated that Medina had “lost his footing” and fell about 30 feet.  I wrote about the incident but, at the time, I did not have the name of his employer, G M Framing.

South Carolina OSHA recently issued citations to G M Framing. The agency proposed two serious violations related to fall protection requirements. One violation involves the requirement to provide a guardrail system, safety net system, or personal fall arrest system for workers at heights above 6 feet. The other violation involves the requirement to provide effective safety training for employees who work at heights.

When some local press initially reported Ascencion Molina Medina’s death, they called it an accident. An “accident” suggests the circumstances were unforeseen or could not have been avoided. South Carolina OSHA’s findings tell a different story. Call it cutting corners, call it poor management, call it breaking the law. Whatever you want to call it, Medina’s work-related death could have been prevented, it was no accident.

7 thoughts on “Fatal work injury that killed Ascencion Medina, 44, was preventable, SC-OSHA cites G M Framing

  1. Maybe it’s better to avoid the risk of being in the work place altogether. At least that may be the attitude of many.

    From a professor’s opinion in the WSJ:
    “There were 12.7 million fewer Americans working in January than there would have been with the 2000 employment-population ratio. Disability insurance claims have roughly tripled in the past generation (despite greater inherent workplace safety because of the declining relative importance of manufacturing and mining); government subsidized student loans and grants have lured younger Americans away from work; extended unemployment benefits prolonged unemployment; and food stamps now go to nearly 30 million more Americans than 15 years ago. The government has provided much more income that is only available if people do not work. So fewer do.”

  2. See Noevo:
    How does some American’s choice to get an education excuse Ascencion Molina Medina’s employer from taking the most basic safety precautions?

    GM Framing was cheap, and a man died. Dead people are not employed, so shouldn’t you be upset that someone who was working has been permanently denied the ability to work?

    As for your opinion essay’s comment about disability: isn’t also possible that many of the people who are now claiming disability would previously have died of their injuries, precluding them from collecting on the disability insurance they paid for?

    Also, please complete your citation. What professor, from what institution, in what issue of the WSJ?

  3. To JustaTech:

    “What professor, from what institution, in what issue of the WSJ?”

    How does a techie not know how to Google the answer to that in about 10 seconds?

  4. Drat the no preview on these pages.

    It is also worth noting that the author of that article is from the American Enterprise Institute, which has become the go-to source for articles valued on reinforcing the appropriate dogma rather than showing any reasoned or careful analysis of facts – 30 or so years ago some of its people did some careful analysis. Now it’s just a better dressed version of Breitbar or Blaze or similar internet concentrations of paid liars.

  5. dean: Oh, I know SN. I was part of the thread that would not die over at RI.

    I just couldn’t believe that even SN would use a man’s death as an excuse to condemn all American workers as lazy and entitled.

    Can’t say I’m terribly surprised about the citation.

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