Preventable Deaths
Conduct Screen Direct Harm
Any corporate conduct, product defect, or operational failure that results in preventable human deaths — industrial disasters, toxic exposure fatalities, unsafe product design, building collapses, contaminated products, or systemic safety failures. Includes capital structures that enable care quality deterioration (REIT/PE ownership of senior care facilities where return extraction creates chronic understaffing), but is NOT limited to healthcare or care facilities. If people died and the company could have prevented it through reasonable action, this code applies. Distinct from working_conditions (which covers workplace injuries/illness without fatalities) and environmental_damage (which covers ecological harm without documented deaths).
25 companies currently excluded under this screen
Excluded Companies (25 total)
Showing 25 of 25 companies excluded under this screen.
| Ticker | Company | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| MPC | Marathon Petroleum Corporation | Marathon Petroleum Corporation carries $1.59 billion in regulatory penalties across 394 violation records since 2000, according to Good Jobs First's Violation Tracker. Of that total, 135 workplace safety and health violations generated $41 million in penalties, and 61 OSHA citations alone account for $40.2 million. The penalty record establishes a persistent failure to contain hazardous materials at operating refineries — not isolated incidents but a pattern across decades and facilities. The most documented acute event is the August 2023 fire at Marathon's Garyville, Louisiana refinery, the third-largest in the United States. A naphtha storage tank leaked for more than 13 hours before igniting, burning for over three days and triggering a mandatory evacuation of approximately 3,000 residents. A nine-month investigation by The Guardian and Forensic Architecture, published in January 2025, found that Marathon told residents and government regulators that "no offsite impacts" had been detected while dozens of community members sought hospital treatment for respiratory symptoms. The investigation's 3D reconstruction of the event estimated that some residents were exposed to benzene concentrations more than 18 times above the CDC's acute exposure threshold. The EPA's risk management program classified the release as one of the largest flammable chemical releases it had ever recorded. Marathon concluded its internal investigation into the Garyville fire in October 2024 — 14 months after the event — attributing the tank failure to corrosion accelerated by low pH, a mechanism well within the scope of routine mechanical integrity management. A class-action lawsuit filed in federal court in Louisiana seeks damages on behalf of approximately 16,000 residents and alleges that Marathon actively minimized the episode in its disclosures to federal and state agencies. The Garyville refinery sits in the "Cancer Alley" corridor, a predominantly Black, low-income region already carrying disproportionate toxic burden — a geographic detail Marathon's emergency communications did not engage. |
| MO | Altria Group | Altria Group derives approximately 99.84% of its $24 billion in annual net revenues from tobacco products, sold through its wholly-owned subsidiaries Philip Morris USA, U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company, John Middleton, and NJOY Holdings. The company's core product — the Marlboro cigarette, manufactured by Philip Morris USA — is the dominant cigarette brand in the United States. Tobacco combustion products are established causes of lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and stroke; the CDC attributes approximately 480,000 deaths per year in the United States to cigarette smoking alone, making tobacco the leading cause of preventable death in the country. Altria's business model is, in its near entirety, the manufacture and distribution of these products. The company has not exited combustible cigarettes. Rather, it has expanded its product portfolio into smokeless tobacco (UST LLC, acquired for $10.4 billion in 2009), e-cigarettes (NJOY Holdings), nicotine pouches, and cigars, while continuing to generate the overwhelming share of revenue from cigarettes. Altria's corporate fact sheet lists over 300,000 retail distribution points across all 50 states, ensuring broad and continuous consumer access. The company characterizes its strategy as providing "category-leading choices to adult nicotine consumers" — a framing that does not engage with the established mortality burden of its products. ViolationTracker records $1.27 billion in regulatory penalties against Altria since 2000, including $8.4 million in tobacco litigation and $45.5 million in product safety violations, though the regulatory record understates the mortality harm, which operates through lawful product sales rather than regulatory violation. |
| CVX | Chevron Corporation | Chevron Corporation operates a global network of high-hazard facilities, including refineries, offshore platforms, and pipelines, where safety failures have resulted in preventable worker and community deaths. In 2021, a massive fire and explosion at the Chevron refinery in El Segundo, California, sent a plume of toxic smoke over surrounding communities. Earlier that same year, an explosion at the Chevron refinery in Pascagoula, Mississippi, injured multiple workers. The company was found liable for deliberate environmental contamination in Ecuador's Lago Agrio oil field, operations originally conducted by Texaco, which Chevron acquired. The court found the pollution caused a public health crisis, including cancer deaths, which experts linked directly to the oil waste. Chevron has settled claims related to violations of the Risk Management Program rule at its U.S. refineries, a regulation designed to prevent catastrophic chemical releases. The recurrence of major fires, explosions, and toxic releases across its global operations indicates persistent failures in safety management directly contributing to preventable fatalities. |
| DD | DUPONT DE NEMOURS INC | On November 15, 2014, a catastrophic methyl mercaptan leak at DuPont's La Porte, Texas insecticide plant killed four workers when nearly 24,000 pounds of the toxic chemical escaped through open valves in a building with no adequate gas detection system. Two workers died from initial exposure; two more died responding to the emergency. The Chemical Safety Board found the building lacked methyl mercaptan detectors on the floor where workers died. DuPont pleaded guilty to criminal negligence and was ordered to pay $12 million; a separate civil jury ordered $16 million in damages. The La Porte deaths occurred against the backdrop of DuPont's decades-long PFAS contamination of communities near its Washington Works plant in Parkersburg, West Virginia, where the company knowingly discharged perfluorooctanoic acid (C8) into waterways. A 2013 epidemiological study established probable links between C8 exposure and six diseases including testicular and kidney cancer. Total PFAS-related settlements exceed $850 million. |
| PRIM | PRIMORIS SERVICES CORP | Primoris Services Corp., through its subsidiary Primoris T&D Services LLC, was cited by OSHA following a fatal worker electrocution during utility pole replacement work in Seminole, Florida, on August 12, 2025. A crew was replacing a utility pole when equipment contacted an energized overhead transmission line, killing one lineman and injuring two additional workers. OSHA issued citations for three serious violations: failure to ensure employees maintained required minimum approach distances from energized parts, failure to assign a designated observer to monitor those distances, and failure to ensure job briefings covered precautions for work beneath energized transmission lines. The proposed penalties totaled $49,650. As of March 2026 Primoris has contested the citations before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. |
| MCD | McDonald's Corporation | McDonald's has faced legal claims alleging its products and operational practices have contributed to preventable deaths. In the landmark 2003 class-action lawsuit *Pelman v. McDonald's Corp.*, plaintiffs argued the company's food products were more dangerous than average and that its marketing contributed to health injuries. While the specific claims were ultimately dismissed on legal grounds, the litigation highlighted public and legal scrutiny of the health impacts associated with the company's core business model. Separately, a Texas jury awarded a $27 million verdict against McDonald's in a case finding that lax security at one of its restaurants led to a fatal shooting. This verdict directly ties the company's operational and safety decisions to a preventable death on its premises. |
| STE | STERIS PLC | STERIS's former subsidiary Isomedix operated a sterilization facility in Waukegan, Illinois from 2005 to 2008 that emitted ethylene oxide (EtO), a known human carcinogen. The facility had been emitting EtO since 1994 under prior operator Cosmed. Approximately 275 residents filed lawsuits in Cook County Circuit Court alleging EtO exposure from the facility caused breast cancer, leukemia, and lymphoid cancer. The EPA classifies EtO as carcinogenic to humans, with research finding cancer rates up to nine times the national average near sterilization facilities. STERIS settled for $48.15 million in March 2025. The first case to reach trial (Pamela Knobbe, breast cancer) ended in mistrial in January 2025. |
| ECG | EVERUS CONSTRUCTION GROUP INC | Everus Construction Group (formerly MDU Construction Services Group, spun off from MDU Resources in October 2024) was cited by OSHA for willful fall protection violations following a worker fatality. The company paid $169,000 to settle the citations. OSHA classified the violations as willful, indicating the employer knowingly failed to comply with fall protection requirements, a standard that represents the most serious category of OSHA citation. The fatality and associated penalties reflect systemic safety management failures in the company's construction operations. Everus provides electrical, mechanical, and transmission and distribution construction services across the United States. |
| PCG | PG&E | PG&E is responsible for 100+ deaths across a decade of catastrophic failures. The 2010 San Bruno gas pipeline explosion killed 8, destroyed 38 homes, and resulted in 6 felony convictions and a $3M fine. PG&E then pleaded guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter for the 2018 Camp Fire that destroyed the town of Paradise. Separately charged with manslaughter for the 2020 Zogg Fire (4 deaths). Total wildfire liability forced a bankruptcy filing with $25.5B in settlements ($13.5B victim trust, $11B insurers, $1B public entities) plus $2.1B in regulatory fines. Pattern: systematic neglect of aging infrastructure. |
| JBHT | HUNT J B TRANSPORT SERVICES INC | J.B. Hunt recorded 50 fatalities in 24 months (2023-2024), a 63% year-over-year increase (31 deaths in 2024 vs 19 in 2023). FMCSA data shows 7,663 violations (Jan 2023-2025) including 2,692 unsafe driving, 1,020 hours-of-service, and 157 driver fitness violations. A $15.57M wrongful death verdict (2019 Pennsylvania) involved a driver with a history of DUIs and failed drug tests — suggesting negligent hiring/retention. A $31M settlement covered a fatal rear-end crash killing an adult and two children. Dashcam evidence in a pending 2024 case showed the driver distracted by a cell phone at the moment of fatal impact. |
| DVA | DAVITA INC | DaVita operates for-profit dialysis centers where a $383.5 million jury verdict found the company liable for three patient deaths caused by GranuFlo, a dialysis chemical that caused cardiac arrests due to elevated bicarbonate levels. For-profit dialysis centers, including DaVita's, show approximately 8% higher patient mortality rates than non-profit clinics, with an estimated 2,500 excess deaths annually attributed to the for-profit dialysis model. The company's cost-optimization practices in staffing, treatment time, and supply management have been linked to compromised patient safety outcomes. |
| DG | Dollar General Corporation | Systemic safety failures: 49 people killed and 172 injured at Dollar General stores since 2014, per Gun Violence Archive and CNN investigation. OSHA assessed over $26M in proposed penalties (2017-2024); the company became the first employer listed as a "severe violator" in 2023. Stores routinely had emergency exits, fire extinguishers, and electrical panels blocked by merchandise. Dollar General settled with OSHA for $12M (July 2024) with requirements to resolve hazards within 48 hours or face $100K/day fines up to $500K. Pattern linked to understaffing in low-income communities. |
| DLTR | Dollar Tree, Inc. | Family of Dr. Helen Massiell Garay Sanchez, a 32-year-old anesthesiologist and mother of two, filed a $50M+ wrongful death suit (Feb 2026) after she became trapped in a walk-in freezer at a Miami Dollar Tree (Dec 2025) and died of environmental hypothermia. The store lacked an internal emergency release, latch, or alarm. A manager allegedly instructed a worker not to review surveillance footage after being notified Sanchez was missing. The freezer had no safety mechanism to prevent entrapment. |
| CCI | CROWN CASTLE INC | Crown Castle tower technician fatalities: 38-year-old supervisor died after falling from 500-foot guyed tower in Texas (Nov 2024); separate fatality from 300-foot tower in North Carolina (2024). OSHA investigations ongoing. Pattern of contractor access to Crown Castle structures without 100% tie-off enforcement. |
| LYB | LyondellBasell Industries NV | LyondellBasell has been responsible for worker deaths from chemical leaks at its petrochemical plants. A July 2021 acetic acid leak at its La Porte, Texas facility killed two workers, and the company has faced Clean Air Act enforcement actions for hazardous releases. |
| WHR | Whirlpool Corporation | Whirlpool has been subject to OSHA investigations for worker deaths at its manufacturing facilities. The company has also faced product liability litigation over appliance fires causing consumer deaths, including the landmark McCoy v. Whirlpool case. |
| ECL | Ecolab Inc. | Ecolab has been cited by OSHA for workplace safety violations resulting in worker fatalities. Multiple OSHA investigations have documented preventable deaths at Ecolab facilities due to inadequate safety protocols and chemical exposure incidents. |
| VALE | Vale S.A. | Brumadinho tailings dam collapse (January 25, 2019): 270 deaths from toxic mudflow; structural failure occurred after internal engineering reports (known to executives since 2016) showed dam failed international safety standards |
| JNJ | Johnson & Johnson | J&J faces billions in verdicts and settlements over talc products contaminated with asbestos that caused ovarian cancer and mesothelioma. J&J also played a documented role in the opioid crisis through its Janssen subsidiary. |
| ARKO | ARKO | ARCO's wholly owned subsidiary GPM Investments settled a lawsuit with the family of a clerk who was killed on their premises. The lawsuit claimed that improper safety procedures were in place and lead to her death. |
| CVS | CVS Health Corporation | CVS paid $45M for deceptive PBM practices and $37.76M for over-dispensing insulin pens, causing patient harm. CVS also played a documented role in the opioid crisis through its pharmacy dispensing practices. |
| F | Ford Motor Company | Ford was hit with a $2.5B jury verdict in 2022 over a fatal rollover crash caused by a defective roof structure. Ford has a decades-long history of product defect deaths including the Pinto fuel tank fires. |
| BAYN | BAYER AG | Bayer subsidiary Cutter Biological sold HIV-contaminated Factor VIII blood products in the 1980s after withdrawing them from the US market, knowingly distributing to hemophiliacs in Asia and Latin America. |
| TJX | TJX Companies, Inc. (The) | TJX agreed to pay a $13M civil penalty for knowingly selling recalled consumer products, including inclined infant sleepers linked to multiple infant deaths from suffocation and positional asphyxia. |
| HON | Honeywell International Inc. | Honeywell faces a $12M court order for an employee death, multi-million dollar asbestos verdicts from its legacy Bendix brake products, and wrongful death litigation over faulty home gas equipment. |
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A digest of changes to our exclusion list — new additions, removals, and the evidence behind them. We review the list continuously as new evidence surfaces.
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