INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) - Monday marked an emotional day of remembrance for nearly 200 workers killed on the job across the state.
Now labor leaders welcome a new law complete with hefty fines that could force companies to do more to keep workers safe.
Workers' Memorial Day at the Indiana Statehouse brought families from all across the state Monday to honor the 193 workers who died on the job. Some were killed in workplace accidents that could have been avoided.
"They left home to go to work expecting to return as usual. It's sad and senseless that they never made it back," said Brett Voorhies, union president of Indiana's AFL-CIO.
One by one, the names of each of the workers who died was read aloud and family members wept quietly in their seats. Twenty-three-year-old Shacarra Hogue's case was one of the worst accidents of the year.
"No one should have to go through what my family is going through," said Samantha Hogue, Shacarra's mother, as she stood outside the state memorial dedicated to workers who died on the job.
Shacarra was crushed to death at Fort Wayne Plastics in January 2018. She was retrieving product inside a machine when a co-worker unknowingly started it. Investigators say the machine had been altered and was never designed for employees to be inside it.
"She had only worked there three days," explained Hogue. "That machine that crushed my daughter, you have to be trained four weeks before you're even supposed to be placed."
IOSHA cited Fort Wayne Plastics with serious violations, but the $17,000 fine was negotiated down.
"You cannot kill someone and be charged $6,300. That's it," said Hogue, talking about the fine that was charged to Fort Wayne Plastics. According to Indiana's labor commissioner, the company went bankrupt and packed up and left the state after Shacarra's death.
Worse yet, families of Indiana workers killed on the job get limited compensation.
In 2017, 13 Investigates first exposed Indiana's workers compensation laws. Under the statute, families can recoup cost for medical bills, burial expenses and two-thirds of the worker's wages for 10 years. But employers cannot be sued for on the job injuries or even death, no matter how egregious or negligent a company's actions.
"It makes me angry," said Jolda Fischer, whose husband Myron fell to his death in Marion trying to hang a tarp over a pool at the Hampton Inn. He was one of 887 workers that died in falls, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
IOSHA cited the hotel's parent company, U.S. Hospitality, for a serious violation for failing to "establish and maintain conditions of work which were reasonably safe and healthful...and free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm."
U.S. Hospitality was fined $4,800, but paid just $2,400.
"It's just negligence on their part and I feel they need to pay for it," Fischer's widow said through tears.
"I have nothing left but the pictures in the frame. That's all I have," Hogue told 13 Investigates.
Governor Eric Holcomb just signed a new law. HB 1341 will fine employers that "willfully violate" safety standards that result in the death of an employee anywhere from $9,000 to just over $132,000 for each violation.
"We must always, always strive to make workplaces safer and healthier," said Voorhies.
It took Shacarra's death for state lawmakers to take action.
"She's right here with me. She will always be right here with me," said Samantha Hogue, patting the area over heart before sobbing into the arms of her family.
Both the Hogues and Jolda Fischer told 13 Investigates it's about time companies found in violation of the rules are held completely responsible.
Still, neither family can file a lawsuit against the employer. They can only sue a third party responsible for faulty equipment or some other role in the death.