Two recent incidents have brought the number of work related deaths in New Hampshire this year to at least ten.
Last Sunday, a 35 year old Epsom man was killed when a tree he was harvesting fell on him. On Monday, a 23 year old from Loudon died in a work-related incident at a wood-burning energy plant. Both cases are being investigated by OSHA.
Brian Mitchell is with the New Hampshire Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health. He says that while the total number of workplace deaths in the state is down from recent years, the number isn’t low enough.
“Every year on April 28th there is workers’ memorial day and we have a ceremony and I always say that next year I hope I can stand up here and say that there were no workers killed in New Hampshire.”
Mitchell says younger workers and immigrants are at higher risk for workplace accidents because they may hesitate to ask questions or refuse to work under unsafe conditions.