Audience members bow their heads in prayer Friday, April 26, 2024, as nine workers who died on the job last year in North Florida are remembered. Their names are displayed on cards on the empty row of chairs at the Northeast Florida Safety Council's Workers’ Memorial ceremony. | Dan Scanlan, Jacksonville Today
Published on April 26, 2024 at 2:04 pm
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Oscar Martinez Cisnero was working on a rooftop in Orange Park 13 months ago when he fell to his death.
On Friday morning, he was among nine people honored during Workers’ Memorial Day at the Northeast Florida Safety Council. All nine died in work-related accidents in 2023.
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Seated behind empty chairs bearing the names of Cisnero and the eight others was Miley Medeles, his daughter, with other family members.
“It was a freak accident. Before he was able to clip his harness on, he fell,” she said after the ceremony. “It was really beautiful to know that it is acknowledged and that they actually do something for workers who were injured or lost their lives. It was really beautiful and really appreciated.”
The safety council was unable to provide details of most workers honored, but some have been covered in the media:
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- Oscar Martinez Cisnero, killed in March 2023 in a roofing accident in Orange Park.
- James Hebner.
- Kelly Hendrick.
- Jorge Escudero-Ochoa.
- Harrison Dewayne Phipps of Palatka, who died Aug. 28 in an industrial accident at St. Johns Ship Building in Palatka.
- Melvin Reyes.
- Jose Sauceda.
- Edwin Velasquez.
- Courtney Renee Wenth.
Memorializing those who died is a somber event. A bell tolled nine times, representing the deaths in OSHA’s 26-county North Florida region. But as they honor those who died, Safety Council CEO Catherine Sutton said they must think of better worker safety in the future, aided by numerous employee safety seminars the group offers.
“If you go back and do the root cause analysis, you may be able to find exactly what went wrong and how you can make things better,” Sutton said. “What we do is try to provide quality training to help people understand the value and what they should be doing and what OSHA says they should be doing to prevent help prevent any incident, and certainly any fatality.”
As it has for 10 years, the Northeast Florida Safety Council hosted the Workers’ Memorial Observance Ceremony on the same day as the national remembrance by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Nationally, 5,486 people suffered fatal injuries at work in 2022, a 5.7% increase from 2021, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. That was 3.7 fatalities per 100,000 full-time workers, up from 3.6 per 100,000 in 2021. Workers in transportation and material moving occupations experienced 1,620 fatal work injuries in 2022, the most among all occupational groups. The next highest was construction and extraction workers with 1,056 fatalities, an 11% increase from 2021.
Florida deaths have ranged from a high of 422 in 2004 to a low of 218 in 2012, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers. In 2022, 307 workers died, 102 in transportation incidents, plus 78 due to falls or by slipping and 53 by exposure to harmful substances, the statistics said. Thirty-three died due to violence from people or animals, plus 33 due to contact with objects or equipment and eight from fires or explosions.
The number of deaths in North Florida is down from 18 in 2022, Sutton said.
“To have nine means that there is improvement,” she said. “But when we have one, we still need to work to make this better. Falls are the number one reason for these fatalities, so fall and fall protection is something we need to focus on.”
OSHA Area Office Director Scott Tisdale told the audience that many of the deaths were preventable if safety standards had been followed, proper controls were in place, or better safety and health programs were a priority.
“It is in their memory that we continue to fight for every worker’s rights so others do not suffer the same terrible fate, and for families to stay whole,” he said.
Holding up his personal construction helmet, Lance Simons, Haskell safety and quality vice president, pointed to eight stickers, each representing employees who lost their lives on projects around the world and left “eight shattered families” behind.
“All lives lost in the execution of work cannot be in vain or forgotten. Tomorrow cannot be business as usual,” Simons said. “So how will we be different tomorrow? For those remaining, we can take this opportunity and make tomorrow different in our actions and our deeds. We are called to be an example to others. Find our voices and become better listeners. Become safety and well-being influencers.”
