CJ Bevins

CJ Bevins: Drill Worker
Home: Buckhannon, Upshur County, WV
Killed: Smyrna, NY

"My only son, died with no family or friends at his side, to hold him and to comfort him."

Harm:
     • Human Health Impact:
        Crushed to death by a forklift
      • Industry Dishonesty / Disregard:
          Company refused to instal safety equipment or take proper measures to
           insure worker safety.
     • Oversight Failure: Minimal fine assessed to responsible company

Story Excerpts

"…On May 1, 2011, my son and his coworkers were hurriedly erecting a drill site in Smyrna, NY. The site was extremely hazardous. AWD vehicles were sinking into the mud and ruts were thigh and even waist deep. Supervisors requested, then demanded, more mats to cover the work area. But the company answered that they were too expensive, and pushed the workers to continue. As a result, Charles E. Bevins III, my sweet, sweet boy, was pinned and crushed between an industrial sized forklift and a building when the weight of the forklift on the unstable ground gave way."

" The remote, hidden location which affords so many drilling sites less scrutiny, was not mutually beneficial to my son. The sprint to the Syracuse hospital took over an hour."

I’m told the last thing his coworkers heard him say as they loaded him into the ambulance was, “Am I gonna die?”

My only son, 23 years old, died repeatedly until the doctors could no longer revive him. My only son, died with no family or friends at his side, to hold him and comfort him. Every night when I go to bed my thoughts are haunted with what his last thoughts must have been...how scared he was...his pain.

When my son’s body was brought back home, we buried him on our property after keeping him at home one last night…He was supposed to grow old in the house he helped build, not be buried in the woods a stone’s throw from the back door. Our lives became observed, not lived.

The corporations he worked for sent flowers and representatives to his viewing…After many months, OSHA found the companies at fault, and slapped them on the wrist with a whopping $4,900 fine. Both companies have since filed bankruptcy.

-Nancy Bevins

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