Personal Journal

More on Frank's Death

The worst thing about Frank’s death that I’ve learned is that he didn’t die instantly.
Sounds now like he fell 70-feet; that’s not enough to kill you instantly. It took an hour for the ambulance to reach our site, and he was pronounced dead in it. I don’t blame the ambulance – that kind of fall does enough internal damage that there isn’t usually anything modern medicine can do for you. Skulls crack – even though I’m sure he was wearing a hard-hat. Ribs, bones, everything is crushed and the internal organ damage is so severe it can’t be remedied. And his body probably shut off his pain receptors so while it may sound gruesome to us, the worst he would have been was scared, if conscious at all. And he wasn’t alone, and that’s the best you can hope for to help with the fear.

I feel lonely, and I’m finding myself really longing to be with my friend Steph up in Denver. She’s a new friend, I’m not sure I’ve written about her in this space before. Being in her company is comforting, and I would like some comfort in all of this. I worry for our guys who were there with him, because they have experienced a significant trauma in seeing him fall, his supervisors, his colleagues, all are going to need support. Everyone will lean toward the family right now, but Frank’s coworkers are another family that needs help. I’ll lend my efforts in that direction as well as standing with my coworkers for Frank’s blood-relatives.

Frank was beloved.
We used to joke about his clumsiness, and now that’s a cruel irony. I’ve learned more about what Frank was working on. Our company was tearing down equipment on the boresite tower, and Frank had gone on this trip as his last time to climb on the tower. Another cruel irony. He was on his way down, and he did have a safety harness. He and two others were on the tower. We’re not sure if the harness failed or if the scaffolding of the tower itself gave way.

We had an all-hands meeting about it today, and I was pleased when our new boss said unequivocally that if there are any investigations affecting us, comply completely and forthrightly. Whatever we did wrong as a company, we’re going to admit to. I do worry that perhaps Frank did something contrary to procedures, only because in the corporate world, higher up where these kinds of HR benefits are resolved, they will try to fuck Frank’s family out of money if they get the chance. Another guy said at the all-hands: “We’re going to learn a lot about this company in the coming days.” Indeed we shall, and if I see anything untoward happen, which I doubt, I’m going to make record of it. I know here locally among his immediate departmental folks, there is no chance of Frank’s family getting anything but unequivocal support.

I’ll write about it more as I hear about it.

I sure am praying for everyone involved.