'Great family man,' Father mourns son killed in Boston Seaport construction accident
BOSTON – A 38-year-old man was killed in a construction accident in Boston Thursday morning. Jim Chaffee Jr. from Westfield was the driver of a flatbed truck that delivered large blocks used for street paving to a parking lot in Boston's Seaport District.
James Chaffee Sr. said his son was a "great family man. My best friend."
His father said he had stepped out of the truck when he arrived and was standing by the driver's side as it was being offloaded. That's when he was somehow hit by the blocks. "He was a safe worker, very conscientious with what he did, proud of his driving record," said his father.
"It hits home. It raises concerns," said George Sawyer, a construction worker at a nearby project. It's the second fatality in the industry in Boston this spring. "You think about it, you got family, you understand that everybody else has somebody that loves them and wants them to come home that night, so yea it definitely hits home," said another worker, Kenny Boucher.
Last Month, an accident at a demolition site in South Boston caused critical injuries, and in March, a worker was killed in a garage collapse in Government Center. So far this year, 15 people have lost their lives on the job in Massachusetts, according to the safety advocacy group MassCOSH. The group says that's on pace with 62 for all of 2021, which was a 38% jump from 45 fatalities in 2020 when the pandemic hit.
MassCOSH has been pushing for steeper fines for safety violations, and more aggressive government inspections. "Here in Massachusetts, we have 38 OSHA inspectors, which means there is one for every 92,000 workers," said MassCOSH Executive Director Jodi Sugarman-Brozen.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said her office will be in touch with OSHA inspectors who were at the site Thursday after the accident. "Every bit of care that is going in to making sure these buildings are safe for the eventual customers, or employees, or folks who will be using the building later on when it's ready, that needs to apply to every step in the construction or demolition process," she said.
