An L Brands employee was fatally injured at a company facility in Reynoldsburg, Ohio and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has opened an investigation.
An OSHA spokesman told Sourcing Journal the incident occurred at the Victoria’s Secret parent company’s facility on Friday while the employee was loading boxes with an expandable conveyor inside a tractor trailer. Local news station NBC4 said on its website the employee was identified in an incident report as 56-year-old Harvey Beavers. NBC4.com said CPR was performed on Beavers and he was transported to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
The OSHA spokesman said the agency has up to six months to complete its inspection, issue citations and propose monetary penalties, if the agency finds violations of safety and health regulations. He said companies are required to report fatalities to OSHA within eight hours, which it did.
An L Brands spokesperson, said, “We are deeply saddened by the death of our colleague, Harvey. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends during this very difficult time. Our top priority is associate safety, and we are cooperating fully with OSHA as they work to determine the cause of his death.”
Also last week, OSHA cited UPS for allegedly putting workers at risk by repeatedly obstructing exit routes at its Sharonville, Ohio, distribution center. The company faces $208,603 in proposed penalties.
Last month, OSHA reported there were 43 fewer workplace fatalities in 2017 than the previous year, citing the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries report. The fatal injury rate also decreased to 3.5 percent from 3.6 percent in 2016. Fatal occupational injuries in the private manufacturing industry and wholesale trade industries reached their lowest points since the fatal injury census began in 1992.