Workers are dying on the job all over the area:

From North East Linen where Victor & Carlos Diaz died December 1, New Jersey Assembly Member Joseph Cryan condemned the management of North East Linen for their indifference to worker safety. He told me “I toured the Linden Linen Plant previously and urged the owner, John Ryan, to deal fairly with the workers. When they purchased the place, North East Linen could have gotten help from the State, conducted a floor to ceiling safety review. They didn’t do it. North East should have trained and equipped its workers for the dangerous tank cleaning task. They should have had trained supervision on site and respiratory equipment.” In a prepared statement he said:

Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of Victor Diaz and Carlos Diaz. While such loss of life is a tragedy no matter when it occurs, it is that much more emotional during a time when families typically come together and celebrate the holiday season.

"I am appalled and disgusted at the indifference displayed by North East Linen with regard to the level of worker safety in their facility and the illegal interference with an organizing campaign to address these issues. Ensuring the highest quality of working conditions is an important aspect of any business. Not only does it make business sense, but it is a right protected by law.

Also calling for a "comprehensive" OSHA investigation of possible negligence by management was US Senator Robert Mendendez . To me, it seems, management was recklessly indifferent, not negligent. North East Linen seems to have, at best, ignored risks it knew about. North East has not replied to requests for comment so I know nothing of their side if they have one.

From Manhattan's East Side on Friday December 7, 2008, two brothers, window-washers fell 47 stories. One of the two died instantly, the other is in grave condition. More coverage here, here and here .

The brothers, born in Ecuador, shared a house, ironically, in Linden NJ (home of North East Linen, (above). Dead is Edgar Moreno, 30, while his older brother, Alcides, 37, is not responsive but still breathing. Before going to work they expressed concern that the scaffolding from which they fell was not working properly. They were not wearing safety harnesses when the scaffold fell. See photos of the scene and the brothers along with an excellent story from the Star Ledger, here (The NY Times also reports on the possible scaffold problems here . Alarmingly, the Moreno brothers were told the scaffold had been fixed shortly before their fall:

Less than two hours before their 10 a.m. shift, a man identified as a subcontractor for the company that employed them, City Wide Window Cleaning, spoke with the men, according to Jose Cumbicos, their brother-in-law.

Cumbicos said the subcontractor, whom he knew only as Tony, "called to say it was fixed," referring to the two-point swinging scaffold, which had been out of service two weeks earlier. "They knew it had been bad," said Cumbicos, himself a window washer who works on a different New York City skyscraper.

Thanks, for the above report to the Star-Ledger's Alexi Friedman & Julie O'Conner.

Wednesday's NY Times features an interesting Physics of falling story combined with some industrial safety on this tragedy. James Barron & Al Baker report:

The brothers were employed by City Wide Window Cleaning and were working at the Solow Tower, at 265 East 66th Street, at Second Avenue, when the scaffold gave way. Vincente Bustamante, 35, a good friend of both Moreno brothers and himself a window washer for 12 years, said he believed that Alcides Moreno survived because he followed the training window washers receive when they learn their job.

Window washers are taught that if a scaffold gives way, they should lie down flat on the platform, on their stomach because, Mr. Bustamante said, it gives them the best chance of survival should the scaffold catch on something on the way down. Maybe that is what Alcides Moreno did, he said.

“If you go over, that’s it,” he said. “You’re dead.”

He believed that that was what happened to Edgar Moreno — that he was either thrown from the platform, or jumped from it out of fear. “That’s your first instinct, because you’re scared — to jump,” Mr. Bustamante said.

It was not clear how much training the Morenos had received. The city requires people who work on a suspended scaffold to have a certificate showing they have completed a safety course. The city also requires each contractor to have a licensed master or special rigger, who can designate a foreman to oversee a job.

Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, which represents unionized window washers in Manhattan, provides a weekly course over 18 months. Matthew Nerzig, a spokesman for the union, said the course is supposed to supplement 3,000 hours of apprentice work. He said there are no specific state requirements for window washers, but tradesmen are supposed to have 2,000 hours as apprentices and 180 hours of classroom training.

But the company the Morenos were working for, City Wide Window Cleaning of Jamaica, Queens, is not a union company. The company has not returned calls since the accident, and Ms. Moreno said no one from City Wide had called her to express condolences.

While in the Bronx, a worker was killed. Bekim Hysenlekaj, very recently arrived from Kosovo , a sewer line installer was crushed when he was pinned between a truck and a backhoe. He leaves two children in Kosovo.

One reason this may be not be a country for old men in that many are dying much too young.

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