The combination of coincidences is striking: the CEO randomly decided to walk across the road, was wearing dark clothing, had an eyepatch on so he couldn't see one side of the road well, and was struck by a forklift while the operator was on the phone. (The operator then ran away without checking on the victim.)
This was the latest in a pattern of safety issues at the industrial site:
> Bryan County EMS records show in a 16-month period there were 53 calls for services at the site, including over a dozen for traumatic injuries
Which, lacking any other contextual clues, notably lessens the chances of this being directed malice by the worker, given an average time of 1.3 weeks between calls for over a year.
Somebody walking around on site without high-vis gear is a blatantly obvious violation. Somebody operating heavy machinery while talking on the phone is another blatantly obvious violation. They’re mistakes you don’t get without a pervasive culture of laxness towards safety. The fact there was a whole network of subcontractors on-site means that responsibility for on-site safety was too spread out for any real accountability to exist. Sounds like that site was a disaster waiting to happen, really.
People getting killed is never something to celebrate, but there is a certain degree of poetic justice in a company’s CEO dying to that company’s safety violations.
"You was not the first person to lose his life during construction of the EV plant and its suppliers. In April 2023, Victor Gamboa died on the megasite after falling 60 feet to his death.
Bryan County EMS records show in a 16-month period there were 53 calls for services at the site, including over a dozen for traumatic injuries. One of these injuries included another forklift accident, while one involved a worker being caught in a conveyor belt.
In March, prior to You’s death, a construction worker on the site went to the hospital after being seriously injured in a pipe explosion.
In May 2025, 27-year-old Allen Kowalski died on the HL-GA Battery construction site after a metal frame fell on him.
OSHA has opened at least 15 investigations into incidents at the site, including You’s death and the March pipe explosion."
I know someone hit by a forklift because the operator didn't slowdown for the sections going out of the dark zones.
Forklift operators are careless all the time.
If you simply give them a chance by not being 100% safe yourself it might be fatal.
Forklift operators is, unfortunately, a job that needs go be taken by robots
In a lot of cases its perceived that its cheaper and faster to not "do" safety. Plus unless your leadership is fully bought in, or visible on the "shop floor" safety can appear like road blocks to productivity.
"any employee can say stop and the entire place stops?!" fuck that, they'll use it to skive off.
"oh we have to pay for PPE?" they'll just nick it.
I have worked at a place where a transformation happened because there was a death and number of grievous vegetative injuries. The C-suite got nervous that funding might be pulled so made safety a top-line company metric.
It took years to make a difference, but it also varies by region.
"The company was ultimately fined just under $10,000 for his death"
Wouldn't you rather have no fine? I'm know this is a strawman take but it SOUNDS like you can just pay 10k whenever an accident happens instead of preventing it.
I have driven a forklift before. There is a reason most factories have strict pedestrian zones and a forklifts have priority policy: WE CANNOT SEE YOU! when there is a load we cannot see in front of us which mean we are blind. We normally drive in reverse but that means looking over our shoulder and in turn we can't see half because our necks don't move that much.
when around a forklift assume they don't see you unless there is clear indication they do.
i can't make out details from the article but I assume the forklift was working as expected.
In 1993 Rotterdam had it's first automated container terminal with driverless AGVs. If someone walked onto the road all alarms went off and everything shut down. Not something you will do twice.
With a bunch of sensors, some cameras, some relays, a simple computer and a bit of software you can make fork lifts work. We are even spoiled with AI now, should be easy to spot safety violations as false positives are not an issue.
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[ 1.7 ms ] story [ 32.0 ms ] thread> Bryan County EMS records show in a 16-month period there were 53 calls for services at the site, including over a dozen for traumatic injuries
Which, lacking any other contextual clues, notably lessens the chances of this being directed malice by the worker, given an average time of 1.3 weeks between calls for over a year.
People getting killed is never something to celebrate, but there is a certain degree of poetic justice in a company’s CEO dying to that company’s safety violations.
Bryan County EMS records show in a 16-month period there were 53 calls for services at the site, including over a dozen for traumatic injuries. One of these injuries included another forklift accident, while one involved a worker being caught in a conveyor belt.
In March, prior to You’s death, a construction worker on the site went to the hospital after being seriously injured in a pipe explosion.
In May 2025, 27-year-old Allen Kowalski died on the HL-GA Battery construction site after a metal frame fell on him.
OSHA has opened at least 15 investigations into incidents at the site, including You’s death and the March pipe explosion."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDnOSW8cHjE
I don't think this is a matter of just fining the company. He should be subject to a criminal court.
Forklift operators is, unfortunately, a job that needs go be taken by robots
In a lot of cases its perceived that its cheaper and faster to not "do" safety. Plus unless your leadership is fully bought in, or visible on the "shop floor" safety can appear like road blocks to productivity.
"any employee can say stop and the entire place stops?!" fuck that, they'll use it to skive off.
"oh we have to pay for PPE?" they'll just nick it.
I have worked at a place where a transformation happened because there was a death and number of grievous vegetative injuries. The C-suite got nervous that funding might be pulled so made safety a top-line company metric.
It took years to make a difference, but it also varies by region.
Wouldn't you rather have no fine? I'm know this is a strawman take but it SOUNDS like you can just pay 10k whenever an accident happens instead of preventing it.
when around a forklift assume they don't see you unless there is clear indication they do.
i can't make out details from the article but I assume the forklift was working as expected.
A few months a go a dutch train hit a truck that had been stuck on a crossing trying to turn for something like 15 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsuyLs_0C0I
This is how technology is "progressing".
With a bunch of sensors, some cameras, some relays, a simple computer and a bit of software you can make fork lifts work. We are even spoiled with AI now, should be easy to spot safety violations as false positives are not an issue.