BOSTON (AP) — One person died in a construction accident in Boston on Thursday morning and a second person was taken to the hospital, police said.
Officers responded to the city’s Seaport District at about 5:30 a.m. for reports of an accident, Officer Andre Watson said.
The victim, who was identified by his father as 38-year-old Jim Chaffee Jr, was pronounced dead at the scene. Injuries to the other person are not considered life-threatening, Watson said.
The Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health said the worker was crushed by heavy blocks of street curbing material that was being unloaded.
Chaffee Jr was a truck driver dropping off slabs of stone at the construction site. 7NEWS cameras were there as piles of granite slabs, believed to be involved, were taken away.
In an emotional phone interview with 7NEWS, he described his son as his best friend.
“Very kindly person give you anything if he thought you wanted it,” he said. “Loving life, having a good time.”
“No worker should ever die for simply trying to as a result of trying to provide for their family,” MASSCOSH Policy Director Al Vega said.
The death is under investigation by police, the Suffolk district attorney’s office and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The fatality is the latest workplace death in the Boston area recently, and comes the day after a 60-year-old overnight security worker at The Country Club in Brookline was found dead by coworkers after apparently falling from a decking area, authorities said.
A worker was killed in March when a floor deck gave way at the Government Center Garage in Boston. A worker died in October at an under-construction apartment building in East Boston.
Of the 62 workers in Massachusetts who lost their lives on the job in 2021, 15 worked in construction, according to a report released in April by MassCOSH. Vega said they are pushing for more workplace visits.
“Perhaps we would be able to catch more of the potential hazards and risks that employers might be putting their workers at by not providing proper PPE, the right kind of training or additional equipment to do their work safely.”
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