OSHA looking into two deaths

BANGOR – The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating Thursday’s construction fatality in Orono in which a Parkman man was crushed to death when the body of the dump truck he was working on fell on him.

Two OSHA workers went to the scene of the fatality after its occurrence at about 8:48 a.m., said Bill Freeman, local OSHA director.

As in all accidents it investigates, OSHA wants to determine what caused the accident and what could have been done to prevent it, Freeman said Friday.

If the investigation reveals violations of OSHA standards, citations could be issued, according to Freeman.

The employer involved is S.E. MacMillan Co. of Bangor, according to Freeman.

Eugene Gould, 31, died in the accident. He and other workers were dumping materials and debris from a sewer project at the end of MacMillan Drive.

It is the second time in six days that OSHA has investigated an area construction-related fatality.

On June 21, Mark Betters, 40, of Standish was killed and another man was seriously injured as a result of an industrial accident at the G.E. Goding & Son concrete plant in Lincoln. Betters and a colleague were visiting the plant and were employed by Sebago Scales Co. of Windham. The men were in the bucket of a front-end loader trying to weigh a heavy object with a third man braking the machine. The driver’s foot reportedly slipped from the brake onto the gas and the loader lurched forward, pinning the men between the bucket and a wall. That accident remained under OSHA investigation Friday, according to Freeman.

Freeman said OSHA investigates 10 to 12 construction fatalities a year in Maine. The number is down from a few years ago when the federal agencies averaged close to 20 accident investigations per year.