News

Victim identified in garbage truck fatality

By Lightning Reports, Published: February 17, 2020

The state Department of Labor will investigate the garbage truck accident that killed a 27-year-old city sanitation worker on Friday.

The accident happened when the worker "engaged in garbage pick-up, jumped off a reversing garbage truck and was fatally struck," Natalie Bouchard, a public information officer for the state Department of Labor, said in response to the Hendersonville Lightning's questions.

City communications director Allison Nock identified the victim as Joshua Hensley, who had been with the city since 2014. After an investigation, city police decided that the fatality was an accident and no charges were warranted, Nock added.

The state Occupational Safety and Health Division investigates all workplace fatalities, Bouchard said. An investigator generally visits the accident site, collects evidence including photographs and interviews employees, witnesses and managers to determine the cause of the accident, according to Labor Department's fact sheet on the process. The investigation will note whether any violations of safety and health standards occurred and whether citations would be issued. The city is aware that an OSHA official was coming to Hendersonville to investigate the accident, Nock said.