Latest news with #IreneCardenas-Martinez
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Yahoo
Recovery mission continues Thursday for man who jumped from Hudson Memorial Bridge
May 2—A man jumped off the Hudson Memorial Bridge on Wednesday evening, according to Decatur police, and the Morgan County Rescue Squad confirmed Thursday the search had become a recovery mission as they sought to find his body. Decatur police spokeswoman Irene Cardenas-Martinez said officers responded about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday after a report that an individual had jumped from the Hudson Memorial Bridge. Decatur police, the Morgan County Rescue Squad, and Decatur Fire & Rescue arrived shortly after the call came in. Rescue squads from surrounding counties also searched for much of the night, resumed their search at daybreak Thursday and as of Thursday evening had not found the body. On Thursday morning, the search from a staging area at Ingalls Harbor included the Athens-Limestone Rescue Squad, Childersburg Rescue Squad, Huntsville-Madison County Rescue Squad, Morgan County Emergency Management Agency and Christian Aid Ministry from Vanleer, Tennessee. Morgan County Rescue Squad Capt. Ben Davis remained on scene Thursday as four divers from the Huntsville-Madison County Rescue Squad prepared to search the cold backwaters of Wheeler Lake. Davis said the individual was an older white man wearing a white shirt and blue jeans. He said the man had driven a white Ford truck to the bridge alone before exiting the vehicle and a witness told him he jumped headfirst into the water, which is about 30 feet deep at that point. "We had a team go out earlier this morning with side-scan sonar and a device called AquaEye, which helps identify objects underwater," Davis said. "They've had several positive hits in the same area where he went in. We're going to do another sweep to confirm those hits." Davis said based on witness accounts and the nature of the jump, the search has now become a recovery mission, as it is assumed the man did not survive. He added that crews do not believe the body had drifted far from the point of entry, but cold-water temperatures are likely preventing it from surfacing. "Usually, when someone doesn't resurface, even with strong currents, they sink and stay in the same area until body gases begin forming and causes them to float," Davis said. "With colder water, that process slows down because the body doesn't swell as quickly." Davis said sonar equipment is helping speed up the search. "Sonar gives us a detailed map of the river bottom, and you can actually make out the outline if there is a body," he said. — or 256-340-2442.
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Yahoo
Worker injured in forklift incident at GE Appliances, 3 weeks after OSHA citation
Feb. 7—First responders were dispatched to GE Appliances on Point Mallard Drive Southeast on Thursday morning because of an industrial accident, according to the Decatur Police Department, just three weeks after being fined for a workplace fatality at the plant. Police spokeswoman Irene Cardenas-Martinez said Decatur Fire and Rescue, Morgan County EMS and Decatur police arrived at the refrigeration plant at 9:38 a.m. and found an employee who was suffering from non-life-threatening injuries resulting from "an incident involving a forklift." The employee was transported to Huntsville Hospital for treatment, according to Cardenas-Martinez. This incident comes in the wake of a report released Jan. 17 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration which states that GE Appliances, with factories in Decatur and Louisville, Kentucky, has a history of safety failures. In July 2024, 58-year-old Rodney Terry of Town Creek, who worked as the front-line supervisor at GE Appliances, was killed after "an entrapment with a piece of machinery," according to Deputy Fire Chief Nathan Springer. After an inspection, OSHA recommended the maximum fine of $193,585 on Haier US Appliance Solutions, the parent company of GE Appliances of Decatur since it was acquired in 2016. "Haier US Appliance Solutions could have avoided this tragedy but put production schedules and profit ahead of employee safety," OSHA Area Office Director Joel Batiz in Birmingham said of the fatality. "This company's troubling history of safety failures in its manufacturing process has posed a significant risk to the more than 1,500 workers at its Decatur location who rely on a safe and healthy workplace." OSHA said GE Appliances' Decatur and Louisville, Kentucky, plants have a history of 40 safety inspections since 2016. "These inspections included many machine safety violations, including two repeated and two serious violations of lockout/tagout requirements cited after a 55-year-old worker's fatality in Louisville in February 2019," according to the report. On Jan. 30, GE Appliances spokesperson Julie Wood said the plant places a high value on worker safety. "Our organization, and the Decatur facility in particular, has a strong safety record," she said. "Our Decatur facility was a part of OSHA's highly regarded Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) from 1996 to 2024. The plant underwent seven extensive on-site reviews by OSHA VPP teams during that time, during which OSHA performed an in-depth review of the facility's documentation, conducted employee interviews, and performed a wall-to-wall inspection of the plant." — or 256-340-2442.
