Over four days, two workers died in excavator accidents, and another was rescued.
Two of the incidents involved excavators tipping over, and one fatality occurred when a worker was struck by an excavator.
Worker Dies When Excavator Overturns
A 35-year-old operator died July 29 in Fresno County, California, when his excavator tipped over, and he was crushed against a boulder.
When emergency responders arrived, they found Johnathan Swarthout of Los Banos trapped between a boulder and the excavator cab. The excavator was on its side in an excavation with the tracks up perpendicular to the ground. He was working in the Academy Quarry loading rock into a dump truck when the incident occurred, according to yourcentralvalley.com.
Worker Struck by Excavator Dies
A 61-year-old worker was struck by an excavator July 28 in Beacon, New York, and died at the scene, according to the city’s Police Department.
Amalio Lombardi of Goshen was working on a sewer and water project on Fishkill Avenue for the city of Beacon when the incident occurred. He was a foreman and member of the Local 17 Laborers’ International Union of North America, according to his obituary.
“He was not only a great member, but a leader that should be a mold used for all trades in the construction industry and for all working people,” posted Local 17 member Jeffrey T. Diorio. “He was loyal to the union, the contractors and most of all to his loving family. Every time he stopped into the hall to say hello, he never left without talking about his own family or asked about our families.”
Lombardi is survived by his wife and three children.
Worker Saved from Overturned Excavator
On July 25, a worker was operating an excavator in Oak Forest, Illinois, when it tipped over on its side into a hole.
The Oak Forest Fire Department got the call that a worker was trapped in the excavator. It took about an hour to remove the operator, according to WGN9 TV news station.
The operator works for a demolition company, and it appeared he had been using a breaker on a concrete surface when the excavator tipped.
He was taken away on a stretcher in an ambulance. No further details were reported.
