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Baggage handler dies in freak accident when hair gets caught on airport belt loader
Local 12 ^ | Sept 1, 2022

Posted on 09/02/2022 7:37:46 AM PDT by 11th_VA

NEW ORLEANS (WDSU/CNN Newsource/WKRC) - A baggage handler at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport got her hair caught on the conveyer belt, resulting in her tragic death.

"She said 'Mom I'm on my way to work' I said 'Okay I'll see you when you get home,'" said Angela Dorsey, Jermani Thompson 's mother.

But she never made it home.

Thompson always seemed to have a basketball in her hands.

"She was a basketball guru. She loved basketball. That was her thing," Dorsey said.

Word quickly began to spread Tuesday night that the 26-year-old had been killed in an industrial accident.

"The doctor said that her hair got stuck in the conveyer and they tried say they tried to cut her hair but they couldn't," said Dorsey. "She died on her way to the hospital."

Thompson, who was employed through GAT Airline Ground Support, was unloading baggage around 10:20 p.m. from a Frontier Airlines flight. Minutes later, her mother received the call.

(Excerpt) Read more at local12.com ...


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To: New Perspective

I’m well aware of the phenomenon you’re describing. It’s funny that they said “you can’t do that“. That’s exactly how it is for a productive person and if they step out of line management’s on their butt because they can’t afford to have a productive worker be a loser too.


41 posted on 09/02/2022 8:13:04 AM PDT by avenir (Information overload = Pattern recognition)
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To: 11th_VA
Yikes, terrible.

Knew a shipyard worker, his coverall sleeve got caught up in a pneumatic drill he was using. Out for a couple weeks while his arm healed. It happened in a blink of a eye.. Be careful folks.

42 posted on 09/02/2022 8:16:41 AM PDT by csvset (tolerance becomes a crime when attached to evil)
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To: 11th_VA

Safety First! is the mantra of any OSHA-ruled industry. Training film after recurring training film is watched over the years, and is signed off on.


43 posted on 09/02/2022 8:18:59 AM PDT by avenir (Information overload = Pattern recognition)
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To: 11th_VA

what’s OSHA have say about it???


44 posted on 09/02/2022 8:20:33 AM PDT by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. #FJB)
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To: New Perspective
In the mid 1980s I worked for Hudson General for a while doing this exact same type of work. The job was called "ramp agent" back in the day and I could be doing anything from handling baggage, taking mail to the post office, supplying fresh water to the plane, or emptying the lavs, which can be a whole thread in itself. I never did wave the plane in those wands however, I saw "Airplane!" and I didn't want to be that guy!

Below is likely the type of conveyor belt that was involved in the tragic accident. I can absolutely picture how this happened. She was probably the one slapping the bags onto the belt as another employee deeper inside the hold was feeding her the luggage by sliding the bags across the floor (or even tossing them at her if they were light enough). It's a fast-paced job and all you can think about is getting the bags thrown your way onto the belt. She might have had a bag about to go off the edge of the belt so reached over to grab it, allowing her long hair to get caught in the machinery.

It must have been a horrible scene. Only the person at the bottom can shut the belt off and he/she was also probably too occupied getting the incoming baggage onto the carts to see what was going on up top in time to turn the belt off.

Even back then we had a long list of safety rules to follow but most people get complacent and stop following many of them after a while. And this is how accidents like this happen and anybody working on or around heavy equipment can tell you.


45 posted on 09/02/2022 8:21:44 AM PDT by SamAdams76 (3,996,609 users on Truth Social)
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To: olivia3boys

The poor thing, like physical torture unto death. PLEASE tie up your hair and clothes tight before working around machinery.


46 posted on 09/02/2022 8:23:00 AM PDT by libertarian66
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To: 11th_VA

I remember damn near 60 years a go, a safety bulletin came down from the suits about long hair in the pressroom. Along with a picture of a long haired guy from another pressroom, who was now near bald from his hair getting caught in the press rollers.

I do not know about this young woman and baggage handling machinery , but I do know that long hair & static electricity do not mix.


47 posted on 09/02/2022 8:23:31 AM PDT by Tupelo (Don't under estimate the Republicans ability to f*** things up)
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To: New Perspective

It’s similar at my workplace. And somehow it’s the white people that have privilege. 🙄 I really wish they would stop living in the past, it’s not reality any longer.


48 posted on 09/02/2022 8:24:34 AM PDT by kelly4c
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To: 11th_VA
You need to either have your hair cut short or have it tied up, do not wear flowing clothing and no jewelry when working around machinery.

When did basic safety go out the door?

49 posted on 09/02/2022 8:25:03 AM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (The nation of france was named after a hedgehog... The hedgehog's name was Kevin... Don't ask)
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To: 11th_VA

There wasn’t an emergency stop button on the conveyor?


50 posted on 09/02/2022 8:27:38 AM PDT by Skywise
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To: SamAdams76

Wonder if any passengers were watching the loading from the aircraft when it happened? Would make for a somber flight.


51 posted on 09/02/2022 8:28:11 AM PDT by CodeJockey ("The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” – Edward Abbey)
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To: 11th_VA
The soft bigotry of lowered expectations claims another victim.

The employer is responsible for enforcing safety compliance but doing so would label supervisors as racist.

The standards for working around equipment have been in place for decades: steel-toed boots, high visibility clothing, no rings, no earrings, no exposed piercings, no loose clothes, no ties, no exposed long hair, etc. The rules were absolute: You will not enter the work area in violation; no ifs, ands nor buts.

Now it's wink and nod because of the Grievance Industry. The lawyers laugh as they make money on perceived grievances and then make money when the rules are broken for those who claim they're being discriminated against when they get injured or killed. It's nothing but a racket.

The insurer of the manufacturer of the conveyor is going to pay out a small fortune despite no negligence since the contract employer is likely a paperwork-only Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) with minimal insurance coverage. My guess is $2.5 million.

52 posted on 09/02/2022 8:31:55 AM PDT by T.B. Yoits
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To: qwerty1234
Not only racist, but in several states is actually illegal to not hire people because of their hair style (read blacks) - even if it means they are putting themselves in danger.

It's called the Crown Act.

They're not trying to make it federal law.

53 posted on 09/02/2022 8:32:48 AM PDT by Angelino97
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To: New Perspective

It always strikes me that when flying into different cities, you will look out the window and always see different ethnicities working the ramp, with correspondingly different approaches to the job.


54 posted on 09/02/2022 8:33:04 AM PDT by PUGACHEV
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To: T.B. Yoits

Well said.


55 posted on 09/02/2022 8:33:44 AM PDT by CodeJockey ("The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” – Edward Abbey)
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To: PUGACHEV

You see it in just about every occupation there is. How about fast food workers? Light night and day.


56 posted on 09/02/2022 8:37:29 AM PDT by CodeJockey ("The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” – Edward Abbey)
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To: SamAdams76
I did all the work you described, lav was something I completely avoided:)

The belt loader does not forgive. During our safety meetings I would watch my coworkers and I knew none of them had a clue or cared, how to handle an emergency. I wouldn't trust them with my dead hamster.

While pushing a plane I watched an idiot, one of the minorities with privileges, pull the pin on the nose gear allowing pilot full turning control, before we removed the towbar, it moved about 4 feet hitting in the thighs. Any further and he could of lost his limbs. There are people who have no concept of safety.

57 posted on 09/02/2022 8:50:42 AM PDT by New Perspective (As Leonard Cohen said once in an interview, “You won’t like what comes after America”)
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To: 11th_VA

There’s no company policy requiring hair be tied up when near heavy equipment? That’s been the policy everywhere I have worked.

Also common sense.


58 posted on 09/02/2022 8:51:46 AM PDT by Seruzawa ("The Political left is the Garden of Eden of incompetence" - Marx the Smarter (Groucho))
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To: avenir
I’m well aware of the phenomenon you’re describing. It’s funny that they said “you can’t do that“. That’s exactly how it is for a productive person and if they step out of line management’s on their butt because they can’t afford to have a productive worker be a loser too.

I actually laughed out loud when he said that. I can see how these work environments are infiltrated with lazy insecure people on a power trip.

59 posted on 09/02/2022 8:52:54 AM PDT by New Perspective (As Leonard Cohen said once in an interview, “You won’t like what comes after America”)
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To: FlingWingFlyer; All

What can you say? Blacks go out of the way to embrace the most stupid and annoying items of ‘culture’ (hip Hop crap), personal appearance and general in your face vile behavior and conduct and see the whole world as ‘racist’. as a unit they copy the worst, most stupid and most dysfunctional in life and culture and demand to be praised and lauded for their conduct and actions.


60 posted on 09/02/2022 8:54:34 AM PDT by robowombat (Orth,He looks like the sex all y one )
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