AFSCME 3299 FILES OSHA COMPLAINT OVER DEATH OF UC SERVICE WORKER
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 9, 2014
CONTACT: Todd Stenhouse, (916) 397-1131, [email protected]
Devoted Family Man and UC Berkeley Custodian Damon Frick died from injuries sustained in April 7th work-site accident
Berkeley: Following the April death of UC Service Worker Damon Frick, AFSCME 3299 yesterday filed a formal complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), alleging that the University violated the California Health and Safety Act and failed to comply with its own health and safety policies.
A custodian, Frick fell from a 20 foot lift at UC Berkeley’s International House on April 7th, and died days later from the injuries he sustained. He was 45 years old and leaves behind a partner and two children.
“We have been sounding alarms for years about the hazardous working conditions and skyrocketing injury rates faced by UC Service Workers—those who do the most physically demanding labor at UC,” said AFSCME 3299 President and fellow UC Berkeley Service Worker Kathryn Lybarger. “This was an entirely preventable tragedy, and UC must be held accountable.”
READ THE OSHA COMPLAINT HERE
According to the University’s incident report, on the date of the accident, Frick was “working from a lift platform to clean window sills approximately 20 feet above the ground in Chevron Auditorium” when the lift—which is more than 30 years old–became unstable and tipped over. There was no spotter present when Frick was on the lift, and he later died from injuries sustained in the fall.
While Frick’s Supervisor required him to perform the dangerous lift work, it was not part of his original job description. The University has since failed to produce any records demonstrating that the lift equipment Frick was operating had been properly maintained, or whether Frick had received any hands-on training related to its proper use.
AFSCME 3299 has also filed a formal grievance with the University, demanding the University “cease and desist” from assigning workers “abnormally hazardous tasks,” and to conduct a campus wide review of all hazardous duties performed by AFSCME represented workers to ensure that employees are properly trained, informed of their health and safety rights, and to ensure that all equipment has been properly maintained, among other things.
Frick had worked at UC Berkeley since 2011, and was known as a devoted family man, and as noted in a recent Daily Cal article, a “fastidious worker who always went above and beyond his enumerated duties.”
“No words or actions will ever be able to fill the void that Damon’s loss has left in the hearts of his family, colleagues, and students,” Lybarger added. “But we are determined to honor his memory by ensuring that nothing like this ever happens again at UC.”
AFSCME 3299 is helping to organize a fundraising campaign to aid Frick’s family, which has already generated more than $5,000.
Frick’s family is pursuing a wrongful death claim against the university.
