A fatal workplace incident in Hugo, Minnesota, resulted in the death of a 36-year-old man.
At about 8:40 a.m., December 13, 2017, Aaron D. Reich, a resident of Buffalo, Minnesota, was fatally pinned between a semitrailer truck and a front-end loader, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. The incident happened at a construction site on the 14600 block of Irish Avenue. The Sheriff’s office has yet to disclose the circumstances leading up to Reich’s death.
This tragic workplace death is being investigated by The Minnesota office of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Minnesota State Patrol and the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office.
OSHA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor that was created with the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of 1970. This federal law requires employers to provide a safe workplace. OSHA’s is supposed to help this happen by setting and enforcing standards. When there is an accident like the one in Hugo, OSHA investigates to find out why it happened and how it could have been prevented. If a violation of the law caused or contributed to the fatal accident, the businesses responsible can be fined. This money does not go to the family of the person who died. For the family to get compensation and justice, they need to consult a wrongful death lawyer.