OSHA casts no blame in diver’s death, widow disagrees
EL CENTRO — While the OSHA report into the October death of Imperial Irrigation District diver Jonathan Burnworth found no fault of the district, his widow, Katie Burnworth, who once worked for IID, disagrees and is contending with the district over worker’s compensation benefits.
“Based on an incomplete investigation, IID denied benefits to a widow and her children, a toddler and an infant,” attorney Lisa Hernandez wrote on behalf of her client.
Burnworth said since the incident is under investigation all information has to come from her attorney.
There are technically two claims, Hernandez said, but both are connected.
“It’s a worker’s compensation claim. It’s not a lawsuit per se,” she wrote in a text message. “It’s an application for benefits and a petition for serious willful misconduct, which is quasi civil in nature, but part and parcel of the same action.”
At IID’s June 18 meeting Kay Day Pricola told the directors that a 529 plan has been set up through Imperial County, for the widow who now works for the county and for the two children impacted by this.
529 savings plans are flexible, tax-advantaged accounts designed specifically for education savings.
Burnworth said the 355page OSHA report revealed a lot of things that went wrong in the dive that killed her husband, but would not elaborate.
The IID would not comment, saying it could not because it involved pending litigation.
Back in October, Jonathan Burnworth, 32, while working for the dive team, died of a heart attack during a recovery effort.
According to the OSHA report, Burnworth was attempting to recover a Honda Civic car that had been driven into the canal.
The California Highway Patrol, a tow company, the dive team’s supervisor and two more IID employees were present, and they determined the method of recovery and the steps that were going to be needed.
Burnworth offered to go into the canal, and after a spot check revealed his scuba equipment was working, he was able to get to the car to verify to CHP there were no bodies inside the car.
Burnworth returned to the canal bank and, after resting, returned to the water he placed one hook on the car before surfacing and getting the second hook and going under again.
When he went under the second time his supervisor was holding the life line connected to Burnworth’s waist and the tow truck driver told him the diver was not responding, resulting in the team pulling him out of the canal and rendering first aid.
He was transported to the El Centro Regional Medical Center before being airlifted to University of California San Diego Hospital where he died after being taken off life support.
The report shows no Title 8 violations were discovered during the investigation, and the report conducted by Scripps Institution of Oceanography showed no evidence of damaged scuba gear, and the medical examiner ruled the cause of death as natural.
According to the field documentation worksheet, the IID dive team and tow truck driver were the ones who decided to use two hooks to connect to the front of the car.
The interviews conducted by OSHA showed no flaw in training and site assessment or the gear used.
Burnworth was employed with Imperial Irrigation District as an emergency technician.
Following his death, the IID’s dive team was suspended by its board pending the completion of the investigation. The dive team has yet to be reinstated.
The medical summary of Burnworth released by the IID said no evidence was found that would preclude him from diving, even though he died of a heart attack.
In May 2018, Burnworth completed the requirements to be a swift-water rescue technician.