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Exclusive: Sewer fatality report issued

Four violations noted did not cause the death of a city employee May 7.

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By Jessica Heffner, Staff Writer Updated 6:25 AM Friday, November 5, 2010

MIDDLETOWN — Four citations have been issued to the city of Middletown following a state investigation into the death of a city worker, though none of the shortcomings led to the fatality.

The citations follow an almost six-month investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation’s Public Employees Risk Reduction Standards department into the death of 31-year-old Jabin Lakes. The public works employee was killed May 7 while inspecting and cleaning a sewer line on Yankee Road. Three firefighters also were injured attempting to rescue him.

In the report issued Monday and obtained Thursday by The Journal through a public records request, the BWC found three serious violations in the city’s determinations of permit-required confined spaces (spaces with the potential to contain hazards capable of causing death or serious harm); its training program for permit-required confined spaces; and its evaluation of a rescuer’s ability to respond to an emergency in a proficient and timely manner.

The agency also cited the city for not adequately maintaining its logs for work-related injuries and illnesses.

No fines were listed in the report. The city has been given a time frame to abate the issues — which varies from Dec. 22 to April 27. Les Landen, city law director, said the city plans to take corrective measures and may hire an independent consultant to ensure its policies are compliant with the BWC.

“(The BWC has) told us that none of these violations are causally related to the accident and to the death,” Landen said. “We want to be compliant to make sure the workplace is as safe as it can be.”

While the city does log workplace injuries, Landen said it will be switching to forms approved by the BWC. The city also will update its procedures for confined space training and re-evaluate the ability of a regional confined space team — the Butler County Technical Rescue — to respond to emergencies.

Landen said Middletown does have trained rescuers, but will have to evaluate whether a regional team can respond to needs such as the May 7 incident in a timely manner.

“Obviously, in confined spaces you don’t have the most amount of time. If (the team) gets there an hour later, no matter how well they are trained, they might not be able to help,” Landen said.

Lakes was overcome by nitrogen fumes while standing over the opening.

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