A fatal accident occurred at the Ford Motor Co.’s Chicago Assembly Plant on Saturday morning, January 2, 2016. The plant located at 12600 S. Torrence Avenue, Chicago was under construction when an 8 x 8 foot concrete wall collapsed.
John J. Jaloway, a 45-year-old man from Carol Stream, was pinned under approximately a 6 x 7 foot section of the wall that was 6 inches thick. Jaloway died from multiple blunt force injuries caused by the collapse of the wall. He was pronounced dead at Advocate Trinity Hospital.
Danny Palumbo was an autoworker nearby when the wall collapsed. Palumbo posted on Facebook:
“I was less than 25 feet away when it happened, I worked with three other guys and we tried to lift that wall, but we couldn’t move it. We finally got twenty or maybe even thirty guys around it and lifted it maybe three inches and pulled the guy out.
“I can’t remember much else because the blood rushed to my head when we let the wall fall…I didn’t know the guy, but I am typing with tears in my eyes.”
Another 48-year-old man who rushed to help Jaloway was in serious-to-critical condition at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.
Litgen Concrete Cutting and Coring Company was managing the removal of the concrete wall at the time the wall collapsed.
Autoworkers at the plant have complained in the past about the conditions of the plant. A worker from the Chicago Assembly Plant filed a complaint with OSHA in 2014 expressing his concerns that the building structure was unsafe and deteriorating. Donny Harris, a Ford employee, listed approximately 11 issues he observed at the plant that he felt posed safety hazards, several of those issues pertained to conditions of the wall. OSHA visited the plant six months later and issued no violations.
OSHA is investigating the subcontractor in relation to Saturday’s fatal accident. OSHA is not currently conducting an investigation of Ford Motor Company.
I handle cases such as these which are considered Worker’s Compensation claims and/or what is called third-party claims if there is an independent and separate cause of an injury besides being injured while on the job.
Please call me at 312-888-6058 for a free evaluation of your case.