Man dies at job site

RILEY TWP. — The Sandusky County Sheriff's Office is investigating the recent death of a construction worker at a Sandusky County job site. Police responded to a construction site at Wightman's Grove in Riley Township on July 19. There, they found that a man, James Hilburn, 60, of Bowling Green, had been run over by a 30,000-pound excavator, according to a sheriff's report. Hilburn did not have a pulse when deputies checked, and arriving EMTs then pronounced him deceased. The worker who was operating the excavator told deputies that he had asked another employee where Hilburn was at, the report states. The other employee indicated that Hilburn was elsewhere, and that it was safe for the worker to back up the excavator. The driver said he then heard someone yelling for him to stop and that he ran a man over, the report states. "We are treating this as an accidental death," sheriff's detective Martin Dumminger said, adding that the investigation was ongoing. No criminal charges have been filed. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OHSA) said that they are currently investigating the accident. U.S. Department of Labor deputy director of public affairs, Rhonda Burke, said that OSHA has six months to complete the investigation. The victim was an employee of Wenger Construction & Excavating, a company that was clearing a lot for a residential construction project, Burke said. "If OSHA finds violations of workplace safety and health regulations, they can issue citations and propose monetary penalties to the company," she said.