A recent case in Spencer, Tennessee shows how sometimes, things go very wrong. It was in April of 2019 when Mickey Fisher, an employee of the Spencer Utility Department, was killed on the job. While digging a trench, employees hit the water line. Fisher went into the trench to try and fix the problem and while in there, the trench collapsed, burying Fisher as it did. It took workers four hours to uncover his body.
Even more recently, the City of Spencer came under the fire of the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration (TOSHA) for the death. While TOSHA issued many citations against the City, they did not find them willful in the death. As such, the City will not face criminal charges.
The citations issued included allowing employees to work in the trench without the knowledge of the risks associated with it and not requiring employees to wear helmets when working in a trench. The City was also cited for failing to provide a fast way out of the trench, and failing to perform inspections by a competent person.
“It just shows how anything can happen at any time,” says Gary Massey of Massey & Associates, PC. “When people fail to watch out for the safety of others, disaster strikes. That was clearly the case here, and it is a shame the City of Spencer is not being held accountable for it.”
Many around the city tend to agree, particularly those that knew Fisher. While this certainly seems to be a case of wrongful death, the TOSHA does not seem to think so. They deemed that the actions of the City were not willful. Due to that, they will not face any financial obligation or criminal charges in the aftermath of Fisher’s death.
The TOSHA defended its decision to deem the death not willful because the work was not that typical of the City. Due to this, the TOSHA argues, there could not have been intentional disregard or an indifference to the violations.
