A construction worker at the Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant in Baltimore, Maryland, died after being hit by an excavator, according to the Baltimore Sun.
The worker, Transito Rodriguez Cruz, 36, worked for a company hired by the city for a construction project at the plant and he was working in a trench when the bucket of an excavator hit him.
Cruz was later pronounced dead at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. OSHA is investigating the incident along with the Baltimore Environmental Police.
This marks the second trench-related worker death in Baltimore this year, after a 20-year-old construction worker was killed in a trench collapse while working on a sewer line in June.
Supreme Court Refuses Flushable Wipes Case
After a lower court recently ruled that customers can sue manufacturers of flushable wipes for false advertisement, the U.S. Supreme Court has decided not to hear an appeal of that case and to let the ruling stand.
The original class-action lawsuit was filed in 2013 by Jennifer Davidson who claimed the Scott Naturals Flushable Moist Wipes she’d purchased didn’t break up in the toilet water.
State of Pennsylvania Sues Plumbers for Recommending Unneeded Sewer Line Repairs
The Pennsylvania Attorney General is suing a father-and-son plumbing partnership that operates across six counties in the western part of the state, claiming the duo defrauded customers by recommending unneeded sewer pipe replacements.
Investigators found that the father, Howard Stahl, continued to demand payment from customers even after they complained about his son, Nolan, pushing unnecessary repairs. Officials also say Howard rejected customers’ pleas to cancel contracts with his company and never took any corrective action about the complaints.
“My office heard from more than 20 consumers who had been scammed by these defendants, and we followed up on their complaints,” Attorney General Josh Shapiro says, according to WFMJ News. “Several consumers reported being told their pipes needed to replaced, when in fact, that was unnecessary.”
