Five workplace fatalities reported in Kansas,Missouri in last week

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is asking businesses to look at their workplace safety and health plans after five workplace deaths in a week.

OSHA has begun five workplace fatality investigations in Missouri and Kansas since Aug. 10, and 45 worker fatalities since Oct. 1, 2015, in region 7 which covers Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.

The reports were:

Aug. 10, 2016- Nelson’s Tree Service; employee struck by tree in Columbia, Missouri

Aug. 11, 2016- Ford Motor Co; workplace violence in Kansas City, Missouri

Aug. 11, 2016- Briggs Traditional Turf Farm; heat-related incident in Kansas City, Missouri

Aug. 12, 2016- Omega Concrete Systems, Inc.; electrocution in Andover, Kansas

Aug. 15, 2016- Concrete Strategies; electrocution in St. Louis, Missouri

For the 2015 fiscal year, there were 27 fatalities in Missouri, so far for the 2016 fiscal year, 24 have been reported.

In our OSHA region, which included surrounding states, 53 fatalities were reported in the 2015 fiscal year. So far, 50 deaths have been reported. Leaving only a couple more months until the 2016 fiscal year is over.

ABC 17 News spoke with OSHA on the phone who tells us they don’t have a reasoning behind why the numbers are on the rise, but believe all the deaths could have been avoided.

OSHA’s acting regional administrator, Bonita Winingham, says there is no reason why a business would not know to not report a fatality at a workplace. If a business doesn’t report a workplace death, the business could face a fine up to $12,000. Winingham says, “OSHA’s job isn’t to shut businesses down, it’s to make a place of employment better.”

Workplaces and employees with questions can call OSHA’s toll- free hotline at 800-321-6742.