Just $18,000 In Fines For Ignoring "Recognizable Hazards" That Led To One Easily Preventable Death

Readers may recall the tragic news from a year and a half ago about a sanitation worker who was killed in Hudson due to a garbage dumpster falling on him.  I remember it well, if only because it didn't make much sense to me.  How was it possible that the worker found himself below a raised dumpster before it fell on him, I wondered.  Did the worker make an unwise and unsafe choice?  Was he just not paying attention while failing to follow safety protocols?  Or was something else at play?  

While stranger circumstances have killed sanitation workers (it is a very dangerous occupation), this tragedy seemed odd to me, as if there were more to the story than the few details I had read about.  I also remember thinking to myself at the time that it would be interesting to read an inspection report about the fatal accident if one existed.

It turns out that workers from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration did respond to the dumpster accident for an inspection.  The report of that inspection is available online, and I recently came across it by happenstance.  It also turns out that my hunch was correct.  There is every reason to believe that the worker did nothing wrong or unsafe, since it was his employer, Carmen Barbato, Inc., who was found by OSHA to have been at fault in the death of their employee.  And the inspection report reveals just how poorly that company regards the safety, well-being and lives of its workers.  Honestly, it's almost unimaginable in the 21st century.  Some things never change.  

As you can imagine, metal garbage dumpsters, even when empty, are really, really heavy.  They are emptied in one of two ways: by a hydraulic lift at the front of a garbage truck lifting the dumpster above the top of the truck while the operator remains inside the cab; or, by the more time-consuming and dangerous hands-on means at the rear of the truck while 2 workers are standing nearby.  The 55-year-old Barbato's Disposal employee killed in the 200 block of Long Alley in October of 2022 was one of two employees executing the latter method, a process he and his coworker were likely very familiar with. 

Here is how that dumpster emptying process typically proceeds:  The garbage truck is backed up as close to the dumpster as possible, with one worker at the rear of the truck guiding the driver.  The top front edge of the dumpster is then hooked to the edge of the hopper at the rear of the garbage truck while a hook at the end of a thick cable from above the hopper is attached manually to a metal loop at the top rear of the dumpster.  A worker, standing 2 or 3 feet from the dumpster and at the rear passenger side corner of the truck, then activates a hydraulically powered cable which lifts the rear of the pivoting dumpster, spilling the contents into the hopper of the truck.  When the dumpster is empty, the cable is slackened so that the dumpster can be returned to its spot on the ground and the garbage crew can continue on their route.  As you can imagine, if that cable breaks free of the dumpster or the truck, or the dumpster somehow becomes even partially unsecured to the truck, it will fall to the ground in the blink of an eye.  It may fall straight down or swing to one side or the other of the back of the truck.  Anyone standing nearby would be in danger. 

What caused Barbato's dumpster to fall as it was being emptied into the hopper of the truck, an event that is likely very rare?  Was it human error or something else like a failed piece of machinery or missing safety mechanism?

The details from the OSHA Inspection Detail Report clearly show that the accident was not the result of human error and that the company could have prevented the death of their sanitation employee.  Here are the reasons behind Barbato Disposal's first "serious violation" from OSHA:  The employer did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious harm to employees...due to the garbage truck not having a rear loader container latchup mechanism and a hook that did not have a functioning locking mechanism in place...  A dumpster being lifted by a defective hook was missing the safety lock mechanism exposing an employee to struck-by and crushing hazards. 

In other words, the dumpster-lifting mechanism for that garbage truck was hazardous because it was clearly missing two important safety mechanisms.  Carmen Barbato, Inc. provided a garbage truck to its employees that was just waiting to kill one or two of them in an instant.  To call the death of the former Barbato sanitation worker an "accident" is an insult to the worker, his family and his friends.  The dumpster wasn't the problem, and OSHA found no fault with how the dead worker had been performing his job.   The truck was the cause of the death, and no one was even driving, or inside, the truck!  This cost Carmen Barbato, Inc. $11,000. 

Barbato management never made sure that their truck was properly equipped with safe and intact dumpster-lifting equipment.  If they knew about the missing safety mechanisms, they ignored them.  If they weren't aware of the missing mechanisms, then they failed to properly inspect their own truck.  One wonders how long that truck was such a hazard. 

While the worker who was killed may have found himself behind the dumpster at the time it broke free from the truck, an "accident" like this was inevitable because of the clear hazardous nature of the truck's dumpster lifting apparatus.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, similar "accidents" could have occurred multiple times with Barbato Disposal's other garbage trucks.

After visiting the accident site in Hudson, OSHA visited Barbato's garbage transfer facility on Route 23 in Hillsdale to inspect all of their garbage trucks.  The following is what produced the company's second "serious violation":  On or prior to October 25, 2022, garbage trucks did not have rear loader container latchup mechanisms in place, exposing employees to struck-by and crushing hazards.  It appears that all of Barbato's garbage trucks were equally, or nearly, as unsafe as the truck that ultimately killed the worker in Hudson.  This cost the company $7,000. 

For the two "serious violations" imposed by OSHA, one of which caused the death of a human, Carmen Barbato, Inc. was fined a total of close to $18,000.  They paid their fines, and the case appears to be closed.

No more dumpster, just a "trash enclosure"

Shortly after the death of the Barbato Disposal's employee, the deadly dumpster behind the small Galvan-owned apartment complex at 235 State Street disappeared.  As Hudseen has reported on more than once in the past year, tenants of the complex had no choice but to leave their trash on the ground in the parking lot and near the alley where it would accumulate for days.  According to one tenant I spoke to, his landlord told him to start purchasing the blue city garbage bags for his personal trash, offering no explanation as to why there was no longer a dumpster for him and the other tenants to use.  

Just last week, in the parking lot of 235 State where Barbato's dumpster once stood, a crew of Galvan workers finished constructing a 3-sided pen for its tenants' loose and bagged garbage, the same stuff that tenants once placed in that dumpster.  The signs on the new structure refer to it as a "trash enclosure," but there aren't any doors that are able to actually enclose the "enclosure" to keep vermin out and to prevent passersby from seeing the accumulated garbage any day of the week.  Galvan also seems to be expecting our DPW garbage crew to enter the new "trash enclosure" to grab the blue city bags found among all the other trash in there.  Placing city blue bags out for pickup more than 12 hours prior to scheduled pick up, and not placing them at the curb or side of the alley for pickup by DPW, are both code violations.  Galvan operates by a separate set of rules of their own making, and DPW doesn't seem to mind.

A common sight behind 235 State since November 2022

If Galvan was so unhappy with Barbato's trash service, why didn't they just hire a different trash hauler to provide their tenants with a dumpster that is emptied once a week?  Or could they not find a trash hauler -- if one exists -- that cares about the safety and the lives of its employees?

How about the City of Hudson?  Is City Hall satisfied with a trash hauler sending defective and unsafe garbage trucks into the city to service its customers?  Apparently, yes.  Did Barbato's deadly negligence have any effect on their ability to do business in Hudson?  Apparently, no, it did not.

The City of Hudson DPW requires all trash haulers doing business in the city to obtain a valid annual REFUSE HAULER license, issued every January at the cost of $1,000, and they have granted Carmen Barbato, Inc. a REFUSE HAULER license for each of the two subsequent years since the fatal "accident" on Galvan's property.  One wonders if Robert Perry cares about, or is even aware of, the OSHA report of the fatal "accident" on October 24th, 2022, in the 200 block of Long Alley.  

How many preventable deaths, "accidents" or serious violations from one trash hauler do you suppose it would take for the city to refuse a trash hauler a license to do business in Hudson?  Does it even matter to DPW or the mayor how unsafe private trash haulers' garbage trucks are or how cavalierly the city's licensed trash haulers regard their own employees' safety and lives?  

Still first on the list!