Wendy Shurelds on the Crucial Nature of Workplace Safety Protections

Wendy Shurelds
Chula Vista, California

My mom, Yvonne Shurelds, died at DTR Industries in Bluffton, Ohio, operating a lift truck – and she was not properly trained to operate a lift truck. It was not part of her regular job duties – she was told that she had to operate this lift truck due to a forgotten vacation and so my mom did what she was told and the end result was - it ended in death.

I just would like to say that if my mom was properly trained or, better yet, if she was not even operating the lift truck – because you have to be a skilled person in order to operate a lift truck - and I feel as though she was put in a compromising situation to where it was though she had no choice.

It’s devastating to lose your mom. I spoke with her on a Friday and she was gone on a Saturday – and to this day, no one can tell us what exactly happened to her. She was operating the lift truck alone. No one was back there. So when they found my mom, they don’t know how long she had been dead – anything - I mean her injuries were so…she was dead when they found her.

Whatever laws that we do have in place – we need to enforce them, we need to improve them. Because safety, our loved ones, this is what…they are our priority. They mean something to us. They may not mean something to an employer, but they mean a lot to their loved ones.

We have to deal with this, every single day. I mean, it’s devastation. You know, my brother, my children won’t get know their grandmother, all because my mom simply went to work, and the unexpected happened. I don’t want another family to have to experience what my family had actually gone through. It’s just devastating - and it’s basically – the employer wants to hide behind laws and they are not taking our loved ones seriously. I am here to speak about my mom and I am trying to allow her voice to be heard.

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