legal developments Safety insight: Make sure spotters never leave the work area to handle an unrelated task; the risk of injury to the individual being spotted is too high. What happened: A contract employee was hired by a company to trim trees that had overgrown and were pressing against an overhead power line. The power line was suspended between two wooden poles, both of which were rotted and decayed. What people did: The contractor elevated himself in the tree and was trimming branches when he suddenly felt thirsty. He asked his spotter to retrieve water for him. While the spotter was away, the power line began to sway due to the poor condition of the poles. The man trimming the trees made contact with the swaying power line and suffered a fatal electrocution. Legal challenge: The family of the dead man sued the host employer. The company argued that it didn’t have a legal duty of care to the contract staffer because he should’ve known how to protect himself from the hazards posed by entangled power lines – the risk was inherent to his job. Result: The company lost. The court said the host employer couldn’t dodge liability for the incident. Here’s why: Yes, the risk from the entangled trees was obvious, but the hazard from the decayed wooden poles wasn’t. Because the host employer failed to warn the contractor about the condition of the poles, it could be held responsible for the fatal electrocution. The skinny: Courts usually rule against host employers that neglect to alert an injured contract worker to hazards unique to their operation, especially if the contractor wouldn’t have typically known about the danger. Cite: Hichez v. Delmarva Power & Light Co., Superior Court of Delaware, No. N19C-10-273, 8/14/26. horror stories Summary A 24-year-old man who had a passion for repairing engines died when a boat slipped off the forks of a forklift and crushed him. The incident From the time he was a young boy, Cody Stelzel of Menomonee Falls, WI, was fascinated by cars, trucks, boats and just about anything powered by an internal combustion engine. So after he graduated from high school, Stelzel decided to pursue his passion for engines by enrolling in the diesel technology program at Waukesha County Technical College to learn how to fix diesel engines. Stelzel subsequently used his degree from the program to land a job repairing boat engines at CenterPointe Marine, a boat storage and repair facility in Milwaukee, WI. One day while he was working at CenterPointe, Stelzel was assigned to fix the diesel engine on a boat that was stored in the warehouse. He went to the area where the boat was located and watched as the operator of a forklift truck retrieved the boat from its elevated storage location. With Stelzel standing nearby, the boat unexpectedly slid off the forks of the forklift truck and landed on Stelzel. The response Coworkers raced over to help their stricken mate, but Stelzel’s crushing injuries were too severe and he was soon declared dead. The aftermath Stelzel left behind his mother and father. People remembered him for his willingness to help others. “He loved doing what he did,” said his dad, Keven Stelzel, “especially if someone would call him up and ask if he could do mechanical work on a car or a boat. “He was my only son,” continued Keven. “I will never see him get married. I will never have a grandchild. He was taken way too young.” September 14, 2026 Safety Alert for Supervisors 3 You make the call: The decision (See case on page 1) No. The company lost. The court refused to overturn the safety citation. The judge said the host employer couldn’t avoid the penalty by claiming ignorance of the violation – the organization had a legal obligation to ensure contractors stayed safe. While the violation – failing to install stairs to the second floor of a building under construction – might not have been immediately obvious to the host employer’s supervisors driving by the job site, the supervisors should’ve gotten out of their vehicles and physically inspected the structure, then insisted that stairs be erected before the work was allowed to continue. What it means: Inspect the work of contractors It can be tempting to hire a contract company to handle potentially dangerous work and then turn a blind eye to what the crew is actually doing. However, this approach can be risky if contract workers run afoul of safety regulations and you’re not aware of it. Instead, it’s better to continually inspect the work being done by contract crews. Consider the use of a checklist to help guide your site inspections. Key: If you spot a potential safety violation, stop the work right away and get the problem fixed. Based on SSHI LLC v. Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. Staffer electrocuted after his spotter leaves the work area Dad laments loss of his child: ‘He was taken way too young’