Mayo, Fla.-A 56-year-old employee with a great deal of experience in the business was killed when two 2,000 ton super sacks containing micro elements for use in blends tumbled onto him at Mayo Fertilizer and Farm Supply. Mayo officials said there were no witnesses to the accident, which occurred at about 10 a.m. on Aug. 7, and the investigation by OSHA and the office for workmen’s compensation is still underway. Dale Bish, Mayo’s chief financial officer, told Green Markets that a consultant had been hired to help the company “better understand what happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Bish said the scene at the Mayo Lake City location, 45 miles away, indicated that the employee had been moving the sacks with a forklift and apparently approached one of the stacks on foot when the underneath sack broke and tipped the other two onto him. “It appears the stacks fell on him,” he calculated. “Logic tells me that if that much weight falls from 2 ½ or three feet I don’t know anybody who could take that blow.” He said co-workers attempted resuscitation but were unable to revive him. Emergency medical personnel who responded with the Columbia County sheriff’s deputies pronounced the victim dead at the scene. Bish said the man had been handling retail sales of crop protection lines and bag fertilizer at Lake City and had 35 years in the business with Mayo and other agriculture retailers. He said the Lake City facility was closed and there were only a few at work at Mayo so fellow workers could attend services Aug. 12 in Hawthorne, where the man lived.
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