Prosecutions Initiated in Cases of Deaths, Injuries

Criminal prosecutions have been initiated in a wide variety of job-related deaths and injuries. Here are outlines of some recent cases:

Michigan: A decision is pending from the Michigan Court of Appeals on whether there is sufficient evidence for a trial in the carbon-monoxide death of a cable TV installer. Prosecutors want to charge a company foreman with involuntary manslaughter. They say he knew the van in which the man died had a faulty exhaust system. Two lower courts have disagreed on the evidence issue.

Wisconsin: A jury convicted a company of reckless homicide in the death of a man who drove a front-end loader off a 60-foot cliff. Prosecutors said the employer knew the man had epilepsy, had given him less than 40 hours of training and had no on-site supervisor. Another company pleaded no contest to an endangerment charge and was fined in the death of a man killed when a crane collapsed.

Texas: Two construction companies and one executive were convicted of criminally negligent homicide in the deaths of three workers in separate trench cave-ins. The three convictions were overturned on the grounds that state law was preempted by federal occupational safety regulations. They are being appealed. A third company has been charged in a similar case.

New York: An appeal is pending in the assault convictions of two executives of Pymm Thermometer Corp. for exposing workers to toxic mercury. A judge dismissed the verdict on preemption grounds.