San Juan County, NM — A man died after falling 55 feet from a work platform in San Juan County, New Mexico, on Thursday, September 4, 2014. The accident happened on Road 4600, near the Navajo Dam.
Police say that Joel Morales-Vecino was working alone on the platform and reached for a tool. He lost his balance and fell, and a wire attached to his safety harness failed, causing his death.
Morales-Vecino worked for Triple P Oil Field Service, our of Farmington, New Mexico.
Scene of the Accident
Commentary
News reports make this sound like this is a work-related accident, but what I’d like to talk about specifically is what actually led to the victim’s death. Reports say that the wire attached to the worker’s safety harness broke as he fell, which sounds a little odd. The first thing I would look at is whether or not the wire or the safety harness were in some way faulty. If it broke, why did it break? The answer to that question could bring up the possibility of there being some liability on the manufacturer of the harness. I realize that this worker’s employer probably has some sort of workers’ comp insurance that would step in and help in these kinds of accidents, but what I’m talking about is a completely separate issue. At the end of the day, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect a safety harness to provide a certain degree of protection to the person wearing it — after all, that’s what they’re there for.
— Grossman Law Offices
