A fall killed Durham welder in Wolfspeed campus accident. Praised as ‘great family man.’
A 51-year-old iron welder named Ricardo Aguilar Aleman died in July following a fatal fall at the Durham headquarters of the semiconductor manufacturer Wolfspeed.
According to his death certificate, Aguilar Aleman was working as a contractor on July 17 when, at approximately 11:20 a.m., he fell from the second story of a building. He suffered “multiple blunt force injuries of head and spine,” and died shortly after noon the next day at Duke University Hospital.
On July 18, the North Carolina Department of Labor opened an investigation into Aguilar Aleman’s employer, Raleigh-based Southern Industrial Constructors Inc. The investigation remains open.
Wolfspeed is a prominent semiconductor firm with plans to grow in North Carolina and abroad. The company is not included in the state’s inspection into the fatal accident. Its headquarters, near Research Triangle Park, was the site of another worker death last October when a company electrician made contact with a live wire.
According to his certificate of death, Aguilar Aleman lived just south of downtown Durham. He was born in Mexico, and his body was returned to the country.
“He was a hard worker,” said Kelly Baldwin, Aguilar Aleman’s ex-wife.
His obituary states Aguilar Aleman “was a good example of a man for his daughters and his son. He gave all the love and attention he could to his kids and helped everyone around him in anyway he could.“
Baldwin hopes to learn more about the circumstances of the accident, saying “they haven’t given me any of that information as of yet.”
North Carolina’s most dangerous sector
State investigations into workplace fatalities and catastrophes, referred to as Fat/Cats, typically take several months to conclude. For example, the inspection into the deadly October accident at Wolfspeed concluded six months later.
“At this time, details are not available,” a Southern Industrial Constructors representative told The News & Observer in July, citing the ongoing investigation.
Southern Industrial is also being investigated for an April 14 workplace accident that killed a 57-year-old employee outside Columbia, South Carolina. That worker was found pinned between machines at a tire-manufacturing site. Headquartered in the Triangle, Southern Industrial was acquired by EMCOR Group, a publicly traded construction company, in 2012.
Construction routinely ranks as the deadliest industry in North Carolina.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the state had nearly 11 construction fatal injuries per 100,000 full-time workers in 2021. The same year, the overall occupational fatality rate across North Carolina was 3.9 per 100,000 workers.
This story was originally published August 11, 2023 at 3:53 PM.
