What is the price of a worker’s life in 21st century America? Not much, in the eyes of the corporate elite and their political representatives. Global heavy equipment maker Caterpillar, Inc. willfully ignored basic safety measures that could have prevented the death of 39-year-old worker Steven Dierkes in June, according to a report released Wednesday by the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). On June 2, Dierkes, who had only started work at the Mapleton, Illinois, foundry nine days earlier, was taking a sample of molten iron from a vat kept at more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit when he fell in, instantly incinerating him. Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood stated in his report a few days later that the cause of death was “thermal annihilation,” noting that it took his team several hours to “sort through the metal fragments and find his remains.” According to his…
