OSHA: No citations in electrocutions
Family attorney calls findings ‘disgusting’
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| Hannah Kendall (left) and Jade Garza died July 25 when they came into contact with the irrigation system while detasseling in a field near Tampico. OSHA said in its investigation that neither Monsanto nor R&J Enterprises of Illinois are responsible in the electrocutions of the two detasselers. (Submitted photo) |
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TAMPICO – Neither the company that hired them, nor the seed company it contracted with are responsible in the electrocutions of two 14-year-old Sterling detasselers, OSHA said Wednesday.
There is “no evidence” to suggest that either R&J Enterprises of Illinois or Monsanto Co. could have known about the safety hazard, which apparently was caused after lightning struck a field irrigation system, leaving it “energized,” the Occupational Safety and Health Administration said at the conclusion of its 6-month investigation.
Because OSHA was not able to establish all the elements of a violation, no citations will be levied against either company, the agency said.
Chicago attorney Todd Smith, who represents the father of one of the girls in a lawsuit against both companies, called OSHA’s findings “disgusting” and “one-sided,” adding that the community is “poorly served by [OSHA’s] careless approach to safety issues.”
Read the response by the Kendall family to the OSHA findings
Read documents related to the investigation released by OSHA
“Is this the unfortunate failure again of a governmental agency to do its job, or worse, is OSHA being intimidated by the large big business issues at issue here?” he said in a statement issued Wednesday.
Hannah Kendall and Jade Garza died July 25 when they came in contact with the irrigation system while detasseling in a field on Luther Road near Tampico.
The girls were hired by Rock Falls-based R&J Enterprises, which was working for Monsanto.
“Lightning striking and damaging the meter box may have caused the electrical system and components of the center pivot irrigator system to become energized,” OSHA said in hazard alert letters sent Tuesday to the companies, landowners Virginia and Donald Matthews and ComEd, notifying them of its findings.
“Unfortunately, this is a tragic accident,” OSHA spokesman Scott Allen said. “We don’t believe in this case that it could have been prevented, because no one was aware of the hazards.”
In an email, Monsanto spokesman Tom Helscher called the incident an “unforeseeable accident.”
“Monsanto did not have knowledge of any dangerous condition in the field, and if otherwise, the crew would never have been allowed to enter the field,” Helscher wrote. “We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Jade Garza and Hannah Kendall.”
Helscher told Sauk Valley Media in August that Monsanto had changed safety procedures for corn growers or farm landlords in all corn-growing regions as a result of the deaths.
Those changes include requiring growers and landowners to unplug irrigation systems at the panel and park the pivot system outside the detasseling area or in the pivot access lane, he said.
Calls to R&J President Rodney Scott were not returned Wednesday. It was not known whether the company has changed its safety procedures.
In its letters, OSHA did recommend “in the interest of workplace safety and health” that people working in fields “where there is electrical equipment and a malfunction or catastrophic event could occur, the electrical system and irrigation equipment shall be effectively bonded and grounded to prevent electric shock or electrocution.”
The letter to ComEd, which was not investigated because it didn’t have any employees involved in the accident, contained similar recommendations that were more specific to the industry.
The Matthews have fewer than 10 employees, and so also were exempt from the OSHA investigation.
In August, Smith filed a wrongful death suit in Winnebago County Court on behalf of Hannah’s father, Brian Kendall. The suit names R&J, Monsanto, the Matthewses, ComEd, and Kevin Larkey, who leased the farm.
On Jan. 3, Hannah’s mother, Mary Kendall, and Jade’s parents, Christopher Garza and Sabrina Knapp, were added as plaintiffs.
“The Garzas and the Kendalls are united in their quest to answer the question of what happened to their little girls,” said Sterling attorney Jim Mertes, co-counsel in the lawsuit.
Smith said he was frustrated by OSHA’s findings.
“OSHA itself recognized in their own letters that there are known ways to ensure that these types of hazards do not occur,” he said in his statement. “How can OSHA then conclude that these entities did not violate federal safety regulations for these teenage workers?
“Our experts, who have inspected the field and the equipment involved are convinced that there were known hazards in the field which the defendants knew about and would have prevented this tragedy from occurring,” the statement said.
OSHA’s 6-month investigation was very limited and does not include “the rights and claims of the victims in this case,” Mertes said, adding that, unlike the agency, the attorneys have more time to complete a more extensive investigation.
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