USMWF

My son Matthew John Ford was born a premie July 6, 1982 and died tragically in a scissor lift accident at Southland Electrical Supply in Burlington, NC October 7, 2008. OSHA concluded operational error. Matt was their Chief Information Officer, a computer expert. He had no operational nor safety training on this equipment. He was installing security cameras, after dark, with no ground spotter. The ramp he was on was not very steep, so no safety curb was required by OSHA. Apparently somewhere on the lift is stated do not use on unlevel ground. Many questions have no answer, such as why was he allowed to use this equipment? Why was no ground spotter assigned? If this equipment is so unstable, why is it not mandatory that it have an automatic shut off when used on any inclines, no matter how slight? Why aren't safety curbs mandatory on any inclines, so you know when you are getting close to the edge? Matt was only 26 years old, and extremely successful, going from an intern position at $8 an hour to Chief Information Officer making over $78,000 a year in only 4 years. His future was so bright. Workman's comp takes no future earnings into account and has a cap on what compensation we are allowed. A worker at 26 has many more years to increase their income than a 64 year old yet they use the same equation to calculate benefits. God Bless you Matt, you should not have been taken away from us so soon.