Jose Antonio Soto Killed in Construction Accident on February 12, 2011
Jose Antonio Soto, from Winter Haven Florida, was killed when a road grader backed into him on the job. Mr. Soto was a contract worker working at CF Industries. His death was a tragic incident which, much like many work injuries and construction accidents can be prevented with some basic workplace safety and adequate worker training.
Mr. Soto’s death was caused by someone negligently operating the road grader—a worker who probablly has little or no training on how to operate a road grader. Large machinery, like road graders, should have audible alarms which “beep” when the equipment is in reverse, so that workers in the area know to get out of the way. Sometimes, however, the audible “beep” has been disabled, because the workers in the area are annoyed by the loud noise. If the alarm was disabled, such that Mr. Soto could not be warned that the grader was moving in his direction, than whoever disabled it or allowed the machine to be in service without it should be held liable for his death.
Because Mr. Soto was a contract workers, his family has third-party claims against a variety of parties, including the owner of the property where he was working, any equipment maintenance company, the worker who was operating the road grader, and perhaps the manufacturer of the grader.
