Learning from our losses
When millwright Gerald F. Storey was killed after the gears failed on a 50-ton crane with a load suspended in midair at the Ford Woodhaven facility in Michigan, the tragedy struck his family and co-workers.
Workers are supposed to come home safe after their shifts. And when injury, or worse, occurs, everybody asks what happened and what could have been done.
The motto of Workers Memorial Day is “Mourn for the dead and fight for the living.” To help fight for the living, the UAW, the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Ford Motor Co. cooperated in the investigation. That included inspections of all similar cranes throughout the Ford system and Visteon. They shared the information with General Motors Co. and DaimlerChrysler.
The UAW-Ford National Programs Center came up with a single lesson plan for what to do if a crane malfunctions with a suspended load in the air. That protocol made a difference a few months later at Ford’s Wayne (Mich.) Integrated Stamping Plant when a crane malfunctioned, suspending a load in midair. By following the single-point lesson, workers were able to bring it down with no injuries.
Nothing can replace a lost loved one. We can hope the lessons learned from joint investigation can protect other families from similar tragedies.
In memory
UAW members who died on the job in 2004
Karen Algren, 59,
UAW Local 402, spot welder,
International Truck, Springfield,
Ohio.
She was walking along an outside roadway on her way to an appointment in another building when she was struck by a semitrailer that was backing up.
Brian Bongiorno,
31, UAW Local 1186, facility technician,
Accuride, Erie,
Pa.
He was crushed while assisting a two-man crew that was removing a ball-screw mechanism from a wheel-forming machine. Electrical power had been locked out, but it appeared motion was caused by stored hydraulic energy.
Marcel Chagnon,
53, UAW Local 909, machine repair,
General Motors, Warren,
Mich.
He was crushed during maintenance of a pick-and-place robot. There was a failure of the rigging, allowing a temporarily unblocked weight suspended over the victim to fall.
Gregory Spranger, 49,
UAW Local 51, job setter,
DaimlerChrysler, Detroit.
He was using a cell phone while walking outdoors during his break when he was struck by a fork truck carrying a chip bin. Spranger was in the driver’s blind spot.
Gerald F. Storey, 62,
UAW Local 387, millwright,
Ford Motor Co., Woodhaven,
Mich.
He was troubleshooting a 50-ton overhead crane when there was a failure of the hoisting system, causing fatal head injuries.
Joyce Williams, 43,
UAW Local 9212, engineer assistant I,
Indiana Department
of Transportation, Edinburgh, Ind.
She was crushed when standing about five feet in front of an asphalt roller when the machine lunged forward.
