DEAD WORKERS IDENTIFIED & REMEMBERED; MORE UPDATES AFTER THE JUMP.

Sunday's NY Times & Newark Star-Ledger reported the death Saturday of two workers at North East Linen a non-union industrial laundry facility. On Saturday, Victor & Carlos Diaz (friends but not related), who were not specially trained or equipped for handling hazardous materials or situations, were cleaning out a huge dilution tank (used to dilute dry cleaning chemical wastes to a level that they can be poured into the sewer system). The Linden NJ chief of police characterized the incident as an "unfortunate accident."

No safety equipment, respiratory equipment or supervisor was on the scene while the men worked. No rescue crew equipped with respirators or supplied air was on site. A supervisor stopped by at 2PM, saw one man down and called for help. By 5PM, Hazmat teams arrived and found Methane levels were too high and oxygen levels were too low they also found the other man in the tank and both were declared dead at the scene. Police described the vat-contents as "chemical stew". Read the NY Times article here, the Star-Ledger story here and then ask yourself..."

What is accidental about these deaths? Was it accidental that the men were in the tank? Was it accidental they were supplied with no safety equipment? Was it accidental that there was no continuous supervision of the men? Was it accidental there was no rescue crew supplied with safety equipment on the scene? Those with a passion for such things, may want to check out what seem to me to be clear violations of the Occupational Safety & Health Administration's confined Space rules .

North East Linen Supply purchased the Morey LaRue site after it ceased operation. Morey La Rue is listed as a hazardous waste destination on EPA Toxic Release Inventory forms, ( such as this one which, to my mind eliminates the possibility of management claiming ignorance of the materials they asked workers to handle. Part of the effort of Unite-Here to organize workers at North East Linen and its sister plant New England Linen is reported in a New Haven, Ct. Newspaper, here Among the complaints of workers reported there, systemic safety violations. The Columbia Spectator reported on students and faculty complaining about anti-labor actions by North East. New Jersey workers, the article states, were demanding masks and gloves.

So is management responsible for these deaths? How about a disarmed and disinterested OSHA? How about an NLRB which undermines workers organizing rights? How about a compassionate conservative president who had presided over these deaths?

UPDATES; Carly Rothman of The Star-Ledger reports:

Victor Diaz, 42, of Hillside and Carlos Diaz, 41, of Paterson were asphyxiated by toxic fumes inside the 20,000 gallon steel tank, Linden police Lt. Raymond Tyra said this morning after an autopsy by the Union County Medical Examiner.

Employee records show Victor Diaz had worked since January as a truck driver for North East Linen, Tyra said. Carlos Diaz, who police believe is Victor's cousin, worked for the company since July 2006.

Cleaning the tank was not a regular part of either man's job, Tyra said, explaining the tank is used to dilute chemicals used in the cleaning process and is only washed every few years.

The men were assigned to power-wash chemical build up from the inside of the tank on Saturday after the local sewerage authority complained that high levels of chemicals were entering the sewer system, Tyra said.

Regional US Dept. of Labor Spokesperson Alicia Brown stated that North East Linen had no record of prior charges OSHA leveled against the employer. This is puzzling in the face of employee statements (see above)that they'd been denied respirators.

2nd UPDATES Star-Ledger's Jason Jett followed up about the men who died

A Linden man asphyxiated by toxic fumes while cleaning a storage tank was on his first day of a new weekend maintenance job at the industrial dry-cleaning company, where he was employed full time as a delivery-truck driver.

Victor Diaz, 42, was remembered by family and friends yesterday as always working to provide for his two children, Omar, 17, of Linden and Veckys, 16, of Mt. Bethel, Pa.

The first day in the tank.

He and Carlos Diaz were power- washing chemical build-up in a storage tank, wearing only coveralls and using plastic wrapped around their feet and lower legs for protection when they were overcome.

Family members said they had not been contacted by the company, a subsidiary of New England Linen Supply Co. in New Haven, Conn.

Unite-Here says:

Eric Frumin, director of the health and safety program at the New York-based UNITE HERE, a union seeking to organize workers at the plant, said the victims should have had a gas monitor, protective clothing, a safety har ness connected to hoisting equip ment and powered communica tions while inside the tank.

"These deaths could have been prevented," he said. "OSHA standards provides all the protection these workers needed."

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