Marking 48 Mass. workplace deaths in past year-plus, advocates fear the cost of deregulation

Yahoo

28-04-2025

SPRINGFIELD — Construction and excavation are the deadliest jobs across the state, accounting for 18 of the 48 workplace fatalities tracked over 2024 and the first four months of 2025, according to the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health.
The list of fatalities released Monday, in remembrance of Workers Memorial Day, includes three men — Igor Costa, 26, of Marlborough, Ryan Almeida, 48, of Brockton, and Raul Bohorquez, 57, of Brockton — who were killed March 28 on Interstate 91 northbound in West Springfield. A driver, prosecutors said, sped into their construction site at about 12:50 a.m. All three died at the scene.
The driver, Bilal Griffith, 29, of West Springfield, faces three counts of manslaughter and one count of leaving the scene of personal injury and death.
Also included on the list of the dead is 66-year-old Matthew Nedorostek of Westfield, who died Jan. 24 after falling into a sand silo at Chicopee Concrete Service in Greenfield.
Michael Potter, a 54-year-old carpenter, also died as a result of a workplace accident Jan. 27, 2024, in Chicopee, according to the report. Tony Nan, 61, was a HVAC installer who died following a December accident in Holyoke.
In the transportation sector, the list included Nicholas Charles Constantino, 36, a truck driver from Mechanicville, New York, killed Aug. 16 on Interstate 90 in Blandford.
And flight instructors Frederika Ballard, 53, of Southwick, and William Hampton, 68, of Indian Orchard, were killed in a plane crash Jan. 14, 2024, in Leyden, along with flight student Chad Davidson, 29, of Woodstock, Connecticut.
Half of all workplace deaths were attributed to falls, slips and trips, according to Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety. The full report is available at masscosh.org.
MassCOSH — part of the state's AFL-CIO and the National AFL-CIO — marks Workers Memorial Day each April 28. It's the day in 1970 when the Occupational Safety and Health Act went into effect.
This year's observance takes on urgency, with advocates fearing that those federal workplace regulations are under attack by the Trump administration.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is losing about 850 of its approximately 1,000 employees, according to The Associated Press.
On Monday, MassCOSH warned that the institute pays for almost 75% of the Occupational Health Surveillance Program at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
The report also called out the weakening of the National Labor Relations Board and the closing of regional Occupational Safety and Health Administration offices, including its North Andover location.
'The enforcement level was already poor,' said Jeff Jones, president of UFCW Local 1459 and also president of the Western Mass Area Labor Federation, 'and it's only going to get worse.'
Jones said MassCOSH and the unions work on behalf of all employees everywhere, not just their own members.
'There is still a lot of work to do,' Jones said. 'And the new regime is rolling back the protections we have in place.'
Colton Andrews, president for the Pioneer Valley Building Trades, said he hasn't been made aware of any cuts in the region.
'I just think unfortunately now they are going to be spread so thin,' he said.
Andrews said Workers Memorial Day is also a chance to advocate for tougher laws mandating jail time for people who drive hazardously through work sites and cause injury.
'At the end of the day, our members and our people just want to go home to their families,' he said.
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Read the original article on MassLive.
Read the original article on MassLive.