Lawsuit filed in Oregon man’s unusual death on job

PORTLAND — Relatives of an Oregon worker who died from carbon monoxide poisoning while defecating in the back of a company truck seek $4 million in a lawsuit filed against the man’s former employer and four other companies.

The suit filed in Portland this week says Andrew Lane, 22, suffered from irritable bowel syndrome and made frequent trips to the bathroom. On May 13, 2014, he was part of a crew that cleaned gutters and pressure washed a home in Sandy, east of Portland.

Lane’s employer, Superior Home Maintenance, provided a bucket in the truck for employees who needed to go to the bathroom at work sites that lacked facilities, according to the lawsuit and documents from Oregon OSHA, which investigated the death.

The workers lacked permission to use the bathroom at the Sandy house, and the nearest off-site toilet was eight minutes away, according to OSHA report.

Lane needed a toilet about noon. While he was in the truck, carbon monoxide from the gas-powered pressure washer filled the vehicle. Co-workers found him unconscious and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

By only providing a bucket for bathroom breaks, “Superior’s conduct was demeaning, debasing and dehumanizing,” attorneys Nicholas Kahl and Thomas D’Amore said in the lawsuit.

A simulation following the death showed the level of carbon monoxide could have been toxic within one minute of the washer being turned on, the OSHA report states.