Wyoming’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) bureau continues to investigate a rig company crane accident that took a Casper man’s life near Douglas.
While workers unloaded a pre-formed concrete slab with a crane at about 9 a.m. June 23, the crane boom fell on Jacob Robert Baker, 33, killing him, said Converse County Undersheriff Nate Hughes.
Sheriff’s deputies, Glenrock ambulance and fire units responded to the rig location about 50 miles northwest of Douglas, Hughes said. Personnel brought in a second crane to extricate Baker, who had died.
The state’s OSHA department is investigating.
Ty Stockton, chief deputy for communications at the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, told Cowboy State Daily the investigation is ongoing and the department cannot release further details until its conclusion, which could take months.
Family Man
Baker graduated from Natrona County High School in 2008, says his obituary, where he excelled in track. He worked as a mechanic after he graduated, then went into oil and gas work.
He was a husband and had been a new father for six months when he died.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
