Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s Department investigated an accident site where they found 51-year-old forklift repairman, Gregory A. Smith, from Deerfield, crushed to death, while he was trying to repair a forklift. The forklift accident in Bolivar, Ohio saw the repairman succumb to his injuries.

Steven R. Martin, owner of the Mid-Ohio Forklifts, Inc., for whom the victim worked, sensed alarm at 7:42 PM on 2 August 2021 when Gregory was unresponsive. He immediately contacted the emergency hotline and requested insight into what had happened at the plastics fabrication plant where Gregory had been dispatched to repair a forklift.

The officers, upon arrival, found the 51-year-old victim dead at the site of the forklift accident in Bolivar.

Investigation revealed that the forklift in question was a safety hazard. It had a disengaged parking brake, the gear selector was positioned neutral, and there were no chocking blocks in sight which could’ve kept the machine from moving.

The worker had been lying under the machine for hours. An employee, Heath Manbeck, saw him there at 2:40 PM and then again, over two hours later at 4:50 PM. She did not ask or say anything because, according to her, repairmen usually don’t respond too well to being asked if they need anything. However, when Gregory was lying under the machine till 7 PM, she suspected something and informed her owner of the situation at once.

However, at that point, it had already been too late.

The autopsy was handled by the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration immediately opened up an investigation to explore if there was an unsafe working environment for workers at the Mid-Ohio Forklifts Company.

The company has made no official statement about the incident and is undergoing a six-month-long investigation from OSHA to see if there were indeed workplace safety violations from the owner’s end.

If so, then the victim’s survivors will have every right to sue the company.

When such a disaster ever strikes, know that you have the right to be compensated for your losses; don’t hold back; call our Ohio worker’s compensation lawyers immediately!

Source: https://www.timesreporter.com/story/news/2021/08/02/one-person-dies-bolivar-industrial-accident/5464541001/