Injury Attorney with The Lietz Law Firm Says Ohio Bus Crash Casualties Could Have Been Worse

Washington, D.C. (Law Firm Newswire) October 22, 2013 – A man died in an accident at an industrial plant in Shady Grove, Penn. on a recent Thursday afternoon.

Rickie Lee Grimsley, 59, became pinned between two cranes in a parking lot on the property of Manitowoc Cranes. Washington, D.C. personal injury lawyer David Lietz, who is not involved in the case, said the incident shows that accidents can happen at any time.

“When heavy machinery is in use, nearby workers are always subjected to some level of risk,” Lietz said. “It doesn’t have to be on the work floor, where lots of machines are in motion, or in a construction zone, where heavy materials are at risk of falling.”

According to Pennsylvania State Police, at about 2:30 p.m., Grimsley was standing between a stationary crane and a crane that a coworker was in the process of moving. The crane driver turned too sharply, pinning Grimsley between the two vehicles. Paramedics responded and performed CPR on Grimsley, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

“It appears to be a case of a simple mistake,” Lietz went on. “Perhaps Grimsley should have stayed farther from the moving crane, but the driver probably needed to give the stationary crane a wider berth if the clearance was less than the size of a person.”

Wayne Bunch, Manitowoc’s vice president of human resources, said that Grimsley had been with the company for over 25 years. He said Manitowoc would not immediately release any more information about the incident, as state police and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspectors were still in the early stages of their investigations. OSHA investigations and the release of findings can take up to six months.

“Investigators need to determine whether negligence was a factor,” Lietz added, “but in industrial settings, tragic mistakes can occur without anyone acting negligently.”

In 2010, the plant was the site of another fatal accident when a worker fainted and fell eight feet onto a concrete floor. He later died from his injuries. OSHA fined Manitowoc Cranes as a result of that accident.