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Partly to mostly cloudy skies with scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Low 77F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
A 63-year-old man died July 17, 2022, after falling into a smokestack while repairing a ship at Detyens Shipyards in North Charleston. File
A 63-year-old man died July 17, 2022, after falling into a smokestack while repairing a ship at Detyens Shipyards in North Charleston. File
NORTH CHARLESTON — A worker died after plummeting into a smokestack while repairing a ship at Detyens Shipyards.
The 63-year-old man was the fourth person killed in an accident at the shipyard since 2019.
In 2020, the company was cited by federal regulators for failing to use fall protection equipment after a man was killed in a fall from the deck of a ship docked at the facility.
A North Charleston police officer was dispatched around 8:30 p.m. July 17 to the shipyard at 1670 Drydock Ave. for reports of an industrial accident, according to an incident report.
A site manager told the officer that his employee was standing on a small platform within a ship's smokestack when the structure broke, causing the unharnessed man to plunge at least 63 feet into the ship's bowels, the report states
Crew members lost sight of their co-worker, and he stopped responding to their shouts, the manager told authorities.
Emergency medical staff eventually found the man, but he was already dead.
Detyens Shipyards is the largest commercial shipyard on the East Coast, according to its website. Founded 60 years ago by Bill Detyens, the family-owned company provides repair work for commercial and military vessels.
A woman who answered the company's phone July 20 said the death was under investigation and more information would be released at a later date. The woman declined to provide her name or specify when information would be made available.
Mike Marshall, safety and environment director for the company, did not respond to a request for comment.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the death, an agency spokesman said. Under federal law, OSHA must issue citations and propose penalties within six months of a violation's occurrence.
Four people have been killed in accidents at the shipyard since 2019.
David Clark, 34, died on Jan. 13, 2020, after he was struck by a shackle while working at the shipyard, causing him to plummet nearly four stories from the top deck of a ship.
Martin Anthony, 51, died in a fall June 27, 2019, at the shipyard.
On April 3, 2019, Juan Villalobos Hernandez, a welding contractor, was working on a lifeboat at the shipyard when a rope snapped, causing the vessel's davit arm to spring free and strike him. Workers had to use a crane to rescue Hernandez, 43, who was fatally pinned against the boat's equipment.
A representative for Hernandez's estate sued the federal government, Detyens Shipyards and several other companies in April 2021 alleging workplace negligence led to the man's death. The lawsuit remains pending in the U.S. District Court.
After Clark's death, OSHA announced it had cited Detyens Shipyards for failing to use fall protection equipment or retrain employees working in high places.
“This tragedy was preventable," OSHA Raleigh Area Director Kimberly Morton said in a statement at the time. "Employers must identify and eliminate hazards in the workplace, as required by law."
OSHA has cited Detyens Shipyards 21 times for serious workplace safety violations in the past 10 years, according to the agency's website. The company has paid $110,000 in fines during that period.
Reach Steve Garrison at 843-607-1052. Follow him on Twitter @SteveGarrisonDT.
Steve Garrison covers breaking news and public safety. He's a native of Chicago who previously covered courts and crime in Wisconsin, New Mexico and Indiana. He studied journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the University of Missouri.
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