A 24-year-old construction worker died last week when he fell 30-40 feet at the site of a future Amazon fulfillment center in Wisconsin.
Zachary Dassow was working at the job site when he reportedly drove an ATV out of a window. He was taken to a local hospital, but succumbed to his injuries.
According to Facebook, Dassow was a cement and concrete finisher.
Dassow was working for Lewis Construction which, in a statement, said they were "devastated" by the accident. The company added that it had been working at the site for months with numerous safety procedures in place and is now cooperating with the investigation.
Dassow leaves behind an unborn daughter. A friend set up a Facebook fundraiser to help out his family.
For the past two years, the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) has named Amazon in its annual Dirty Dozen report. The report lists employers who expose workers to unnecessary risks.
From November 2018 to April 2019 six workers died at U.S. Amazon facilities or operations in California, Maryland and Texas. Like Dassow, all six were contract workers rather than full-time Amazon employees.
One of those workers was Brien James Daunt, who fell to his death during construction of an Amazon warehouse in Oildale, CA in January 2019.
The 42-year-old construction worker slipped and fell 35 feet to his death.
According to OSHA, one in five worker deaths came from the construction industry in 2017. Falls are the second-leading cause of private sector worker deaths in the construction industry. They accounted for 381 out of 971, or nearly 40% of construction deaths in 2017. And fall protection remains the most frequently cited violation by OSHA.
The fulfillment center in Oak Creek, WI is expected to open in 2020.
