Son's death promps parents to campaign for workplace safety improvements- "Rob's Law"

On June 3rd 2008, Robert Augeri, age 31, died while working on the highway paving job for Brox Industries of Dracut, Mass., which contracted the Interstate 495 job from the Massachusetts Highway Department. Augeri was killed when a mack dump truck backed into him in the closed left travel lane. A dual investigation by the Massachusetts State Police and OSHA was done after the accident; OSHA cited Brox Indistries and Lewis Maynard Trucking for the accident and fines were imposed following the investigation.

"This should never have happened," Janet Augeri said of her son's accidental death on June 3, 2008 — his 31st birthday. Follwing her son's death, Janet, her husband, and Augeri's widow and four kids are campaigning for new rules to improve workplace safety. Rob's Law, the new law they're campaigning for, would require trucks to be outfitted with rear motion sensors and other safety devices, including day/night rearview cameras. This type of equipment is already out on the market. Although trucks are currently required to have back-up beeps, Janet explained that in busy situations, like working at night on the highway, the back-up beep from vehicles is like "white noise." Janet also said that, "The public isn't aware that workers can't hear these beeps with all the outside traffic and other machinery noises."

"The current OSHA laws are 38 years old and must be changed," Janet said. Reversebackingsystems.com gives some backing accident statistics:
-A reversing accident occurs every 1.6 minutes in this country. In the U.S., every year, over 300,000 backing accidents are reported, and that doesn't include the unreported accidents.
-Every year, more than 400 people die because of backing accidents (most of them young children.)
-Drivers must pay over 1.3 billion dollars a year for the damages. "Most of these accidents could have been prevented by even the simplest of backing safety systems!"

Sources:
Laurent, Suzanne. "Family asking for support for 'Rob's Law' at Derryfest." Derry News. 17 Sept. 2009. Web. 21 Sept. 2009.
Sullivan, Margo, and Jim Patten. "Father from Londonderry dies in construction accident." The Eagle-Tribune online. 4 June 2008. Web. 21 Sept. 2009.
"Backing Accident Statistics." Reverse Backing Systems. Web. 21 Sept. 2009.