While attention will rightly focus this week on the fifth anniversary of the Station nightclub disaster, the ProJo's Karen Lee Ziner does a great job today in telling the story of another kind of American tragedy -- that of Leonardo Cos Elias, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, who suffered terrible, life-changing injuries during an industrial accident at a Lincoln manufacturing company in December.
Through a temporary agency, Cos began working last year at Packaging Concepts Ltd. in Lincoln, a manufacturer of display cases and furniture. First, friends say, he swept floors. Then he worked at a computer-numerically controlled (CNC) router, a high-speed machine that can cut metals, acrylic and wood while simultaneously engraving — or carving — intricate designs.
On Dec. 14, Cos became trapped in the machine and lay pinned to a table while overhead routing drills bore down on him.
The machine tore into his left leg and buttock. His leg, half his pelvis and his buttock were amputated.
He cannot sit up without toppling over.
The 32-year-old thus joined the ranks of Hispanic immigrants across the country — legal and illegal — whose injury and fatality rates rank higher than other populations, particularly in construction and agricultural work. Safety advocates say language and cultural barriers often impede training.
Fear of speaking up to employers over health and safety issues makes them vulnerable, whether they are here legally or not.
Ziner has done a thorough job on reporting on immigrants in Rhode Island, and she continues that work with this story, reporting on, among other things, the checkered safety record of the company where the accident occurred.
Company officials have declined comment, citing an ongoing investigation by the federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration.
OSHA area director Patrick J. Griffin, based in Providence, said the agency has up to six months to issue a report.
The company, a subsidiary of Abbott Industries in New York, has been cited numerous times by OSHA for what OSHA defines as serious violations. Since 2003, the company has paid at least $28,650 in fines for exposing workers to potential carcinogens and machinery hazards, among other violations.
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