Our hearts are still broken from losing our brother in June. From an article titled ‘Washington Marine Cargo Handling Company Cited for Willful Safety Violations After Worker’s Fatal Fall’:

Jim Meadows was employed by SSA Pacific when he suffered fatal injuries after he fell 10 feet onto the metal deck of the Forest Trader, a 21,000-ton bulk carrier cargo ship registered in Panama.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited his employer today for willfully failing to protect its workers from falls into hatches and cargo holds. The citations follow an OSHA investigation prompted by Meadows’ death. Agency inspectors who boarded the vessel found numerous hazardous areas where no netting or fall protection measures existed.

“Jim Meadows death was preventable, if only a few commonsense measures had been taken to prevent his fall and to protect his coworkers,” said Galen Blanton, OSHA regional administrator in Seattle. “OSHA has cited SSA Pacific for similar violations in Oregon and Florida in the past three years in the hopes of avoiding a tragedy like this. Every employer has a solemn duty to make sure its workers return home safely at the end of every shift.”

More at WorkersCompensation.com