John P. Stoll, 58, suffered fatal traumatic injuries on Friday, February 20, 2015 while working at a construction site in the 1100 block of John Nolen Dr. in Madison, Wisconsin. Channel3000.com reports:

• EMS was called to the scene at 7:38 am to respond to “an entrapment”
• Firefighters said a crew was “working on a stairwell when it collapsed”
• When completed, the construction project will be the site of the Watermark Lofts, an apartment and retail space scheduled to open this summer.

The Daily Reporter says Mr. Stoll was an employee of Badgerland Metal Building Erectors, but their story does not name the project’s general contractor.

Badgerland Metal Building Erectors was subject to two OSHA inspections in 2013, one at a site in Cudahy, WI and the other in Mequon, WI. Those inspections resulted in citations for three serious violations, including improperly erected scaffolding and inadequate examination of the workplace for hazards. OSHA proposed penalties totally $13,200 for the violations. In settlement agreements, the company paid $4,800.

Each year, about 100 workers in Wisconsin are fatally injured on-the-job. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports 96 work-related fatal injuries in Wisconsin during 2013 (preliminary data, most recent available.) Nationwide, at least 4,405 workers suffered fatal traumatic injuries in 2013.

The AFL-CIO’s annual Death on the Job report notes:

• Federal OSHA has 36 inspectors in Wisconsin to cover more than 138,000 workplaces.
• The average penalty for a serious OSHA violation in Wisconsin is $2,207.

Federal OSHA has until mid- August 2015 to issue any citations and penalties related to the incident that stole John P. Stoll’s life. It’s likely they’ll determine that Stoll’s death was preventable. It was no “accident.”