Suit: Worker Died Using Bucket As Toilet In Truck
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Relatives of an Oregon worker who died from carbon monoxide poisoning while defecating in the back of a company truck seek $4 million in a lawsuit filed against the man's former employer and four other companies.
The suit filed in Portland this week says 22-year-old Andrew Lane suffered from irritable bowel syndrome and made frequent trips to the bathroom. On May 13, 2014, he was part of a crew that cleaned gutters and pressure washed a home in Sandy, east of Portland.
Lane's employer, Superior Home Maintenance, provided a bucket in the truck for employees who needed to go to the bathroom at work sites that lacked facilities, according to the lawsuit and documents from Oregon OSHA, which investigated the workplace death.
The workers lacked permission to use the bathroom at the Sandy house, and the nearest off-site toilet was eight minutes away at a commercial establishment, according to OSHA report.
Lane needed a toilet about noon. While he was in the truck, carbon monoxide from the gas-powered pressure washer filled the vehicle. Co-workers found him unconscious and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
By only providing a bucket for bathroom breaks, "Superior's conduct was demeaning, debasing and dehumanizing," attorneys Nicholas Kahl and Thomas D'Amore said in the lawsuit.
The Oregon OSHA report says the crew visited a restaurant 20 minutes before Lane entered the truck to use the bucket, and the foreman did not expect him to need a bathroom break so soon.
A simulation following the death showed the level of carbon monoxide could have been toxic within one minute of the washer being turned on, the OSHA report states.
Steve Frick, the owner of Superior Home Maintenance, declined to comment on the lawsuit Wednesday, saying insurance companies are handling the matter.
Oregon OSHA initially fined Superior Home Maintenance more than $2,000 for the incident, but reduced it to $840 after an appeal.
As part of the appeal, Frick cited a toxicology report showing Lane had an elevated level of methamphetamine in his system.
"The statement in this citation stating that the employee entered the back of the truck to have privacy so the truck could be used as a restroom is an assumption," Frick wrote.
Oregon OSHA faulted the company for not arranging access to toilet facilities and failing to heed the carbon monoxide warning in the pressure washer's owner manual.
Besides Superior Home Maintenance, the lawsuit names the following companies as defendants: Landa Northwest, which installed the pressure washer; American Honda Motor Co., which manufactured the washer's motor; Homemasters Franchise; and NW Home Maintenance.
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Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.
