Long Island Cemetery Worker Dies At Bottom Of Empty Grave

In an extremely bizarre accident out of Long Island, an employee at a cemetery died after a grave collapsed on him.

News 10 reports that 42-year-old Rodwin Allicock was working inside a 7-foot excavation at Washington Memorial Park in Mount Sinai when the earth caved in on him.

Suffolk County authorities said he was leveling out the bottom of the grave just before the collapse. His co-workers tried to dig him out but were unable to save him."

Allicock was pronounced dead at the scene. Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad detectives and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating what went wrong.

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Other Cemetery Hazards For Workers

Shockingly, working at a cemetery isn't the safest career in the world. Just like any other job, there are plenty of dangers to be aware of, and none of those include fear of the walking dead coming from the ground. The Federal OSHA’s Atlanta-West Area Office issued a letter outlining hazards to cemetery workers. Some of those dangers include falls, hazardous atmospheres (for example, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, natural gas, methane from decomposing bodies, and oxygen deficient atmospheres), equipment hazards, falling loads, and being struck by or run over by equipment.

The letter also warns cemetery workers that being lowered into a grave by a bucket is very dangerous. Unless you consider the tombstone in this case to be a falling load, toppled stones aren’t listed as a hazard. Which goes to show: It’s not always the more obvious hazards that cause injuries or death."

You can read more online here.