Someone died in an accident at NUMMI – April 2009

From: MM o1o 3/31/10

Sometime in April 2009, there was a person working here who was struck by falling pallets, hit his head on the floor and died. We have had a couple safety meetings since April 2009 and absolutely nothing was mentioned about this incident. I have asked team members from several different groups and none of them have heard of this incident. Why was this not mentioned during safety meetings? Is the company trying to sweep this under the rug?

I find the language used with regards to this safety investigation suspect. What is “D company”? Was this person working for one of our contractors? Where exactly is “I plant”? If you look at the Current Safety Investigation sheet, the drawing shows a “Painting machine”. Did this happen in the Paint department? And most importantly, who is “victim A”?

Did he/she have a spouse? Did this person have kids to take of? Who are the parents? Friends? These people suffered a tragic loss. It does not matter if this person worked as a contractor or NUMMI. This person died working here and his family needs to be compensated and we all should have been notified so we can prevent future tragedies. If someone knows about this, they need to speak up.

There is no legitimate excuse for not mentioning this during safety meetings. It’s extremely disrespectful to brush this aside like this. They did not even use this person’s name. THIS PERSON HAS A NAME!! People working here make Toyota and their contractors lots of money and when something like this happens, proper respect and compensation must be shown. Where’s the trust and respect? It was all just a lot of talk without action to back it up.

Reminder: You Can Take Your Time Signing for the Retention Package

If you feel you have been wronged by the company, consult a labor lawyer before signing for the retention money. If you sign, you can’t sue the company. Keep in mind that for those of you getting only the minimum of $21k, that is a gross amount. After taxes, that money will not amount to much.


MM009 correction:
The banner in Trucks say “Quality Protects Jobs” not “Saves”. In either case, the context is the same. It is a lie. Trucks achieved a 0 DPV last year.

“An Injury To One Is An Injury To All”
-Industrial Workers of the World motto