Not an “accident”: Agrey Emile Coudakpo, 32, suffers fatal work-related injury in Jessup, MD

Agrey Emile Coudakpo, 32, suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Friday, May 27 while working at Hanson Concrete Products.  WBFF reports:

• Howard County (Maryland) police say the victim “died after becoming trapped in a piece of heavy machinery.”
• Police and fire units were dispatched at about 5:20 a.m.” to the worksite.

WBFF’s and other news sources indicate the incident occurred at Hanson Concrete Products on Dorsey Run Road. A the same address is another business named Concrete Pipe & Precast (CP&P) which is the joint venture company formed by Hanson Pipe & Precast LLC and Americast, Inc.  Hanson is part of the global giant HeidelbergCement Group.

Using OSHA’s on-line database, it does not appear that the Maryland OSHA program has conducted any inspections at the facility on Dorsey Run Road, at least since 2000.  The database shows inspections at other CP&P and Hanson Pipe & Precast locations, with violations related to machine guarding, forklifts, among others.

The AFL-CIO’s 2016 Death on the Job report notes:

• Maryland-OSHA has 54 inspectors to cover more than 135,000 workplaces. With that number of inspectors, it would take 119 years for Maryland-OSHA to inspect each workplace in the State just once.
• The average penalty for a serious violation in Maryland is $715.
• The median penalty amount for a work-related fatality occurring in Maryland is $2,873.

Maryland-OSHA has until the end of November 2016 to issue any citations and penalties related to the incident that stole the life of  Agrey Emile Coudakpo.  It’s likely Maryland-OSHA will determine that his death was preventable. It was no “accident.”