Goodyear employee killed at Topeka plant

TOPEKA, Kan. — A 59-year-old male employee at Goodyear's Topeka plant died Sept. 24 after suffering injuries in an incident at the plant, according to a Shawnee County Sheriff's Department report.

The employee, Timothy Cole, had worked at Goodyear for 28 years, according to his obituary.

Shawnee County Sheriff Brian Hill said deputies were called to the plant shortly after 8 a.m. on the 24th, where they learned the man had sustained life-threatening injuries while working.

Cole was taken to a Topeka hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Hill said.

Circumstances of the incident remain under investigation.

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"Our thoughts are with our co-worker and his family and colleagues," Goodyear said in a prepared statement issued to local media.

"At Goodyear, the safety of our associates is always our first priority. We are conducting an internal investigation and will fully cooperate with outside authorities. We are unable to share further information for privacy reasons."

Officials with United Steelworks Union Local 307, which represents workers at the plant, declined to comment on the incident.

Cole is survived by his wife, two sons, a daughter and one grandchild. Memorial services are scheduled for Oct. 1 at Fellowship Bible Church in Topeka.

Goodyear has roughly 1,400 employees at the 77-year-old Topeka plant, which produces tires for commercial trucks and off-highway vehicles. Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly was at the plant three days earlier, Sept. 21, to announce a five-year, $125 million investment program for the plant.

This is the second fatality at the Topeka plant in the past five years and sixth at a Goodyear tire plant in the past seven years.

In March 2017, James Lay Jr., a 61-year-old contract worker employed by Kansas Personnel Services Inc., died from injuries sustained when an object fell and struck him on the head, according to news reports at that time.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) later fined Goodyear $27,713 for alleged safety violations at the Topeka plant in connection Lay's death.

That accident occurred just a month after Goodyear agreed to a $1.75 million settlement with the Virginia Department of Labor over four workplace deaths that had occurred at Goodyear's Danville, Va., plant between August 2015 and August 2016.