Another Worker Death in Northwest Indiana Steel Mill Accident

Another fatal accident has occurred at a northwest Indiana steel mill.
We recently wrote about two steel mill accident deaths within a matter
of months at the Gary Works plant. This time, ArcelorMittal-Burns Harbor
was the site of an accident that left one dead.

Kevin Campbell, of Crown Point, was an independent contractor hauling steel
for PI&I Motor Express. He was securing his tractor-trailer’s
load when he was hit by another semi driver at the busy steel mill. The
69-year-old victim was taken to the hospital, but he died later that night
near midnight.

Steel Mills: Dangerous Workplaces

Whether employed by the mills themselves or operating as contractors within
the walls of the mills, there is no doubt that the work in U.S. steel
mills is dangerous. This year, northwest Indiana has been hit hard, with
at least three steel mill accident deaths in the last six months.

Workers rose up in protest at the Gary Works plant even before the death
of Jonathan Arizzola. They believed the layoffs of maintenance workers
had left the remaining employees vulnerable to serious and potentially-fatal
dangers at the plant. They may have been right. In response to continued
criticism and pressure to respond, Gary Works recalled 75 maintenance
workers in hopes of avoiding further incidents.

At ArcelorMittal, there are safety concerns as well. The most recent incident
highlights questions about practices related to securing a tractor-trailer’s load.
United Steelworkers Local 6787 President, Pete Trinidad, says his organization hopes to be a part of
the investigation even though Kevin Campbell was not one of their own.
After the horrible crushing accident, Trinidad believed ArcelorMittal
will be looking into the event to see “if there is some type of
method to better secure…loads without putting