UPDATE: Forklift accident kills Home Depot employee; victim identified

10 p.m., Monday

BY EMILY MIBACH

Daily Post Staff Writer

The East Palo Alto Home Depot employee who died in a forklift accident has been identified as Ronald Mishna, 39, of East Palo Alto, the San Mateo County Coroner’s Office said Monday. 

Home Depot employees called 911 just before 5 a.m. on Friday regarding an “industrial accident” that resulted in Mishna’s death, according to interim police chief Jeff Liu.

Police found nothing suspicious about the incident and turned it over to the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration to investigate. 

A case of water came off of a raised pallet and killed the employee. But since Cal/OSHA is still conducting its investigation, no further information can be released at this time, according to Cal/OSHA spokeswoman Christina Cano. 

Cano said it can take up to six months to determine if any work safety violations occurred and fine Home Depot. 

The city of Palo Alto faced fines after lineman Donatus Okhomina died on the morning of Nov. 16, 2019, at age 42. He was in a boom lift taking a transformer off of an electrical pole, and he used non-insulated grips while touching two sources of high-voltage electricity, according to Cal/OSHA.

After an investigation, Cal/OSHA fined Palo Alto $104,060 for his death. The agency said he wasn’t using the proper equipment, and energized conductors should’ve been covered.

8 a.m., Monday — An employee at the Home Depot in East Palo Alto died in a forklift accident, according to the Menlo Park Fire Protection District.

A crew from the fire district responded to the store just before 5 a.m. Friday, said district spokesman Jon Johnston.

He said a case of water came off a raised pallet and killed the employee.

The victim’s name hasn’t been released but Johnston said he was in his mid-30s.

East Palo Alto police and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating.