On-the-job deaths hit 10-year high
A worker at a South Boston seafood warehouse was overcome by ammonia fumes. A diver drowned when his air supply malfunctioned while he was inspecting a municipal water tank in Braintree. Two construction workers were caught in a trench that collapsed and flooded with water in the South End.
These are a few of the 70 Massachusetts workers who lost their lives last year, marking a 10-year high in the rate of workplace-related fatalities, according to a report out Thursday by the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health, known as MassCOSH. Sixty-two of those workers were killed on the job, many in construction; the rest were firefighters who died from occupational illnesses, such as lung cancer and heart disease.
In all, eight firefighters and two police officers died in Massachusetts last year due to occupational hazards.
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