Welcome to CPR's first- and only-of-its-kind Crimes Against Workers Database. Here you’ll find detailed information about state criminal cases and grassroots advocacy campaigns against employers responsible for crimes against workers – leaving them dead, maimed, seriously injured or sick, or robbing them of some or all of their paychecks. You'll also find links to Google Drive folders with source materials. Search using the tools below.
You can also help us grow the database. We plan to expand the database as we discover new cases and gather new information and materials. You can help us by notifying us of new incidents or additional information about incidents already in the database. To let us know about an incident, contact CPR Senior Policy Analyst Marcha Isabelle Chaudry.
Disclaimer: Before you begin your search below, please review the database terms and conditions.
Showing 127 results
Electrocution | Michigan | August 11, 2000
Sorge died when he was electrocuted by a dump truck that came into contact with overhead power lines. Despite repeated warnings that the electric line needed to be relocated, the company took no action to do so. The foreman continued to instruct drivers to dump beneath the electrical line. James Morrin Jr. directed Sorge to […]
Wall/Building Collapse | New York | July 13, 2000
A building collapsed and injured 11 people, including 1 day laborer, and forced more than 100 people from nearby buildings to evacaute, and disrupted subway service. The owners were building a restaurant on the ground floor when the southeastern wall of the building collapsed. Walter Blum, a licensed architect, was the architect for the project […]
Trench Collapse | Michigan | May 24, 1999
Whiteye, a pipe layer, died while working on a sanitary sewer project. He and his crew were laying concrete truss pipe in a 50 feet long by 15-20 feet deep trench. Whiteye was working in a trench box that was only 4 feet wide, but it should have been 8 feet wide. A Vice President […]
Trench Collapse | New York | July 17, 1996
Two workers, Martin Grenzhauser, a 5L employee, and Ed Reiley, a Westar employee, were killed while installing water and sewer lines. Westar had been hired to install a water and sewer line in the City of Middletown. Reagan hired a subcontractor, 5L Enterprises, to perform excavation work in connection with the installation. As workers from […]
Fire/ Explosion | Michigan | December 8, 1994
Rennenberg was killed and three others were injured when an underground storage tank exploded when it was being cut with a gasoline powered cutoff saw equipped with an abrasive wheel. The company owner, Woods, was present at the worksite at the time, and was also injured in the explosion. Woods was supervising the crew on […]
Caught in Machine | Michigan | September 20, 1991
Two workers died and one was hospitalized when the Weingarten 101 hydraulic press they were operating malfunctioned.
Fire | North Carolina | September 3, 1991
24 workers and a delivery man died when hydraulic fluid from a conveyor belt under repair sprayed over a gas-fired chicken fryer. The incident caused a fireball, which filled the plant with smoke. In addition to fatalities, the incident caused 56 workers to sustain injuries and left over 150 workers without jobs due to the […]
Electrocution | Wisconsin | May 20, 1991
A construction worker was electrocuted when the worker hooked a chain to the bucket of a backhoe that had incidentally made contact with live power lines overhead. Before beginning the project, management warned the workers about the live power lines, but did not seek to have the lines de-energized or put up any safety barriers […]
Chemical Exposure | California | January 1, 1989
Federal OSHA citations asserted Federated Weiner Metals failed to: provide medical examinations to five employees with excessively high lead blood levels, despite the recommendations of a company physician; told a physician examining employees at the plant that the level of lead there did not exceed federal exposure limits when, in fact, it was 30 times […]