Yale Incident

I heard about the following accident today at Yale, and I thought it would be appropriate to post and ask that those who read this do 2 things: Send warm thoughts to the family and take a few minutes to reflect about the safety procedures in place where you work, and take steps to make it better.

The newspaper write-up:http://www.nhregister.com/WebApp/appmanager/JRC/BigDaily?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pg_article&r21.pgpath=%2FNHR%2FHome&r21.content=%2FNHR%2FHome%2FTopStoryList_Story_1125778Yalie, 26, dies in freak accidentBy Jim SheltonNEW HAVEN — A Yale University graduate student was struck in the head and died Sunday morning while unloading a truck filled with heavy stage scenery and equipment for the Yale Repertory Theatre.Pierre-Andre Salim, 26, was from Indonesia and lived in New Haven.An unspecified number of long, thick pieces of compressed particleboard fell on Salim's head, according to officials at the scene.Although the student was wearing a hard hat, the weight and force of the material was enough to kill him, sources said.Salim was taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where he was pronounced dead."The family of the student was notified today by (Drama School) Dean James Bundy," university spokesman Tom Conroy said. "A member of the family will be traveling to New Haven. It's hard when someone so young and full of life dies.Members of the drama school family are mourning a tragic loss."Salim graduated from the National University of Singapore in 2002 with a degree in computer science, according to his Facebook page.Grief-stricken colleagues from the theater and the Yale Drama School stood outside the Chapel Street building Sunday morning, embracing each other and fighting back tears. None wanted to comment on the incident.Likewise, Bundy would not comment when he arrived at the theater Sunday morning.A white truck sat on York Street next to the theater's side entrance,with yellow police tape cordoning off the truck's open back end.Inside, personnel from the police department's bureau of identification examined the stage scenery items that remained there.Meanwhile, workers in hard hats carried items from a second truck into the theater.The Yale Rep's most recent production, "Trouble in Mind," had its final performance Saturday evening. The theater's next production,"Tartuffe," is scheduled to begin Nov. 26.Jim Shelton can be reached at 789-5664 or jshelton@nhregister.com.