A 63-year-old Kentucky man was killed in a horrifying workplace accident after a mobile home slipped from its supports and came crashing down while he was helping install it.
Malcom Joseph Barry III, of Salyersville, was working beneath the single-wide mobile home with three other people shortly before 3 p.m. on July 20 at the Calvin Cain Trailer Court in eastern Kentucky.
The crew had been leveling the home and placing block piers underneath it when the structure suddenly shifted and slid off its supports.
Barry became trapped beneath the mobile home.
Emergency crews rushed to the scene, but he was pronounced dead before he could be taken to a hospital.
The three other workers who had also been beneath the structure were not reported killed.
Chief Deputy Tim Clark of the Magoffin County Sheriff’s Office described mobile home installation as dangerous because workers are often required to crawl underneath the heavy structures while adjusting the blocks that hold them up.
“I’ve always looked at it being kind of dangerous because of the way they have to do it,” Clark said.
“They have to be underneath the mobile homes and working to set the blocks or piers, as they’re called, to set those up.”
Clark said the crew had even placed a machine beneath the home for added support, but the structure still slid.
“There’s always a danger of them things moving and coming off of the blocks,” he said. “And they even had a machine underneath of it, but it slid on the machine. It’s just one of them tragic accidents.”
Kentucky’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is leading the investigation into Barry’s death.
The agency said the fatal accident happened at a worksite operated by Conleys Transportation and Sales LLC.
“Team Kentucky is committed to ensuring our workers have a safe and healthy workplace,” OSHA said in a statement.
The investigation could take up to six months to complete.
Clark said he hopes investigators will identify a safer way to stabilize mobile homes during installation so another family does not experience a similar tragedy.
Barry was born in Chicago and later served in the United States Army before being discharged, according to his obituary.
He is survived by his wife, Madgeline Cole Barry, one sister, three brothers and many other relatives and friends.
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