Tonya Ford on the Importance of Workplace Safety Protections

Tonya Ford
Lincoln, Nebraska

I’m speaking for twenty-five nieces and nephews for my uncle Bobby. He was employed and fell from a belt-operated man-lift on January 29th 2009.

He fell 80 feet. He got on the man-lift and something went wrong that day and he ricocheted from wall to wall, landing on an air vent which disconnected from the foundation of the building. He slid off and fell down another man hole and fell an additional 40 feet to his death – where my father, who worked beside him for 32 years, found him that day.

Uncle Bobby also had five brothers and sisters, and a mother that was still alive who had to bury him that day.

We are hoping to reach out and make some changes to make workplaces safer for everybody. No family should have to go through what my family has had to. You never should be able to remember your uncle or your father the way our family has had to remember our uncle Bobby.

I stand today to represent many Nebraska families – as I’ve met many of them and it’s hard to hear their stories – knowing that I can relate. I can relate to all the families of United Support and Memorial for Workplace Fatalities, and we’re hoping to reach out and make sure that changes come from this and that my Uncle Bobby’s death or any other of our loved ones, did not happen in vain.

We want people to realize that these hard workers that we’ve lost made companies what they are today and also made the United States what it is. And without them, without protecting them, we can’t succeed.

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Thanks to United Support & Memorial for Workplace Fatalities for connecting us with Tonya.