A hard-working father of four, Durham resident fell 14 feet to ‘preventable’ death
READ MORE
Construction deaths in North Carolina
As deaths on North Carolina construction sites have increased, state safety oversight has declined, a Charlotte Observer investigation found.
Expand All
Once every 10 days, a NC construction worker dies on the job. Many deaths are preventable.
Latino workers face staggering risks on NC construction sites. Why are so many dying?
.jpeg)
Father of three had much of his life before him — then he was buried alive on the job
Buried alive. Electrocuted. Killed in falls. Records shine light on construction deaths.
A hard-working father of four, Durham resident fell 14 feet to ‘preventable’ death
Ricardo Aleman had the reputation as a hard-working welder, rising at 5 a.m. to make the job site before dawn.
At 51, he had more than 20 years of experience — enough to know the dangers of construction work, once losing teeth when a steel pipe hit his jaw.
Then last July, the father of four fell through a hole in the floor while working for a contractor at Wolfspeed’s Durham headquarters, plunging 14 feet to his death on a concrete floor. Workplace safety inspectors found that a sheet of plywood covering the hole had not been secured, and they fined Southern Industrial Contractors $20,285 for two serious violations.
Rising construction deaths
Aleman’s death marked the second workplace fatality at the semiconductor manufacturer Wolfspeed in 16 months, following the electrocution death of technician Vincent Farrell.
His fatal fall also represents part of a rising total of construction worker deaths statewide, nearly 360 over the past decade and about a third of them Hispanic. In Wake County alone, the death toll stands at 36 since 2011.
But nearly all of those came since 2014 as North Carolina’s building boom continues.
In October 2022, Otoniel Velasquez Lopez drowned in Wake Forest when his forklift overturned and pinned him under 18 inches of water. In May of that year, Clifton “Cee Jay” Foster Jr. was installing an HVAC unit on a roof in Hillsborough when he stopped for a cigarette and broke through the skylight, falling 25 feet.
‘Their safety is just not taken as seriously’
To Aleman’s family, the welder’s death, like so many others, was preventable.
“My dad, he liked to work,” said Ofelia Aguilar Baldwin, his 20-year-old daughter. “He liked his job. ... He took care of his family. ... These construction workers — their safety is just not taken as seriously as it should be.”
Aleman was a Mexican immigrant with 15 brothers and sisters in his native country, some of whom he helped to pay for family medications. In Durham, where he lived on the city’s south side, he spoiled his four children.
“If we needed a new laptop or phone, he got it for us,” Baldwin said. “In talking with his kids, he would stress the importance of loving and helping each other.”
Outside of work, he liked to walk Durham’s trails and greenways, and he enjoyed cooking traditional Mexican meals — especially beef soup.
But at work, “He was an expert,” his daughter said. “He was a pro.”
Officials with Southern Industrial Constructors didn’t respond to requests for comment. Wolfspeed, which was fined $27,553 for two serious violations in Farrell’s death, told the labor department it has since adjusted its safety protocols.
Meanwhile, Baldwin thinks her father should have been warned about the hole in the floor, and that he should have had a harness.
The family received money from workers’ compensation, but it makes a poor replacement for Aleman. Baldwin worries accidents like her father’s will keep happening.
“There shouldn’t be an accident like this,” she said.
This story was originally published May 30, 2024 at 6:00 AM.