Supermarket Faces More Fines After Second Forklift Death

woman hand hold shopping cart with Abstract blur supermarket aisle background

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited San Antonio, Texas-based supermarket chain H-E-B for 10 violations and proposed $80,388 in fines after the April death of a warehouse employee at the company’s Perishable Distribution Center in San Antonio. Seven citations were dropped in an informal settlement, leaving three violations and $49,650 in penalties tied to forklift training and material-handling safety.
Austin Flores, 27, was operating a pallet jack April 4 when a forklift driven by another employee broadsided him, according to his family’s lawsuit. He jumped from the jack to avoid being crushed against pallets and fractured his right ankle. He collapsed and died four days later. The medical examiner attributed his death to blunt-force trauma and a pulmonary embolism.
Two remaining citations tied to the accident carry $16,550 penalties each: failing to complete and document a required evaluation after the mishap, and an operator failing to maintain control of a pallet jack. A third remaining citation, unrelated to Flores’ injury, says H-E-B used a forklift trainer who had not completed the company’s instructor program, also carrying a $16,550 penalty.
Less than six months earlier, another worker died after a forklift accident at the same warehouse, and OSHA fined H-E-B $17,878 for two violations. As part of the settlement, H-E-B agreed to enhanced safety measures and stronger monitoring, and OSHA is waiting for them to be implemented.

An investigation by the journal Science examined EEG-based fatigue-monitoring hard hats and caps used on construction, mining and trucking sites, including Chinese NeuroHua helmets that record brain activity along with movement and blood-oxygen data to flag tired or high-risk workers.
Huanao Security says about 2,000 of its helmets are in use at metro, mine and plant sites in China and that the systems have issued nearly 5,000 safety reports. Similar devices, including Wenco’s SmartCap, are used at mines and construction projects in places such as Australia, Ghana and Mexico.
Critics, including Duke law professor Nita Farahany, warn the tools could enable neural surveillance or profiling. Wenco says only fatigue scores leave its device, not raw brain data, and that it bars punitive use; an Australian mining union said earlier SmartCap use bred mistrust and workers sometimes gamed alerts.
China’s Ministry of Public Security this year recognized EEG as a method for assessing driver fatigue, and Science reported one Chinese vendor’s truck-driver data are shared in real time with traffic police.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is investigating the death of Rolando Melendez, 66, who was pinned between two trailers Tuesday, Nov. 3, at ABF Trucking on Harrisburg Pike in Carlisle, Pa. The Cumberland County Coroner’s Office pronounced him dead at the scene.
The preliminary investigation found Melendez was pinned while trailers were being moved into parking spaces in the facility’s freight yard. The coroner said he died of blunt force trauma to the head and ruled the death accidental.
OSHA has six months to complete its investigation and said it will not share additional details until it concludes.

Canada’s Newfoundland and Labrador’s Occupational Health and Safety Division charged Mowi Canada East of Stephenville on Nov. 5 with multiple violations of the province’s Occupational Health and Safety Act after an investigation into a January 2025 worksite fatality.
Counts include failing to provide a safe workplace and necessary training and supervision; failing to write rescue and evacuation procedures for confined spaces; failing to warn workers of confined-space hazards; and failing to test for harmful atmospheres and oxygen deficiency before and during confined-space entry.
The company’s first court appearance is set for Nov. 19, 2026, at Provincial Court in Stephenville.