There was no OSHA investigation into Mitchell McDaniel's death. His mom is pushing to remove the exemption that prevented it.

Editor's Note: This story contains sensitive content about details surrounding a fatal workplace injury incident.

CEDAR GROVE – When Stacy Sebald returned to the office of the home health care business she worked for Nov. 11, 2019, she knew something was wrong.

She was at a client’s house when a co-worker called and told her to come back to the office. Health care workers typically can’t leave a client so abruptly. A police vehicle was outside. Her boss walked her back to a conference room where two police officers sat. They told her that her son Mitchell McDaniel, 19, had been killed working on a farm.

“I just remember screaming, ‘No,’” Stacy Sebald said.

As a single mom, Sebald was focused on raising her kids, including daughter Malayna McDaniel and son Vincent Balthazor, to adulthood. Mitchell had graduated from Howards Grove High School earlier that year.

"He didn't even live an adult life," she said.

Not interested in going to college, Mitchell was working odd jobs while he figured out what he wanted to do after graduation. He had done farm work before, like driving a tractor, feeding cows and plowing, but never with heavy machinery.

On the day of his death, Sebald said her son was instructed to go and clean out compacted silage in the lower 5 feet of a silo on the third-generation farm he was working. He had no previous training. He was alone.

She said the power for an unguarded auger was still on and there was no “lock out, tag out” safety measure implemented, which is recommended by the the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration . Visiting the farm that December with the farmer’s permission, Sebald said the inside of the silo was “very dark and dingy, even (with) the light bulb back there in the corner. You could hardly see, and I went out there during broad daylight.”

Police initially told Sebald they suspected Mitchell reached in to grab something and had fallen in, but a gut feeling told her otherwise. Sebald called the funeral home director who was organizing Mitchell’s funeral.

“I said, ‘Can you do me a favor? Don't give me any details. I don't want to know, but answer one question for me, if I'm able to come and see my son and hold his hands and say goodbye to him.’” Sebald recalled.

She was told Mitchell had a few scratches on his hands and abrasions on his face, dismissing the idea he could’ve reached into the silo because he would’ve had severe injuries on the top half of his body.

At the funeral home when she said goodbye to Mitchell, Sebald had an idea of what happened to him: "Running my hands through his hair, I noticed on the right side of his temple underneath his hairline, there was a big bump. What I think happened, because that silage gets very, very slippery. And he lost his footing somehow — or maybe something did give way — he slipped and then hit his head on the side. Maybe he even got knocked unconscious, who knows.”

OSHA will investigate workplace fatalities in facilities the department has jurisdiction over. However, the family farm Mitchell was working at didn’t qualify because farms with 10 or fewer workers employed within the last 12 months are exempt from all OSHA activities , including site investigations, according to enforcement exemptions and limitations under existing appropriations law.

While OSHA investigators were on-site within an hour of the incident, according to Sebald, they weren’t able to investigate Mitchell’s death.

“It's just something that's so cold, evil and heartless,” Sebald said about the exemption. “It's inhumane, it's truly inhumane.”

Not being able to have an OSHA investigation into her son’s death makes Sebald feel he was “discarded” and was “some kind of number.”

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To honor Mitchell and change the outcome for other families, Sebald is leveraging her work with United Support & Memorial for Workplace Fatalities to get the exemption removed. USMWF is a national nonprofit organization aimed at supporting families of loved ones affected by work-related incidents through grief support and safer working condition resources.

OSHA estimates 15 people die a day in workplace incidents. Recent reported data from 2022 show 5,486 workers suffered fatal injuries, an increase of 296 deaths from the year before.

Wisconsin had 125 and 105 reported fatal workplace injuries in 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Sebald, a USMWF board member and family member, has reached out to regional and state representatives in the past two years about the exemption but to little avail. She intends to reach out to more representatives beyond Wisconsin in the future because it is a federal exemption.

“When there are laws in place, OSHA can only do so much,” Sebald.

Sebald also spoke at the 2024 Workers Memorial Day Ceremony April 25, organized by OSHA and Mine Safety and Health Administration. She drew attention to the exemption and shared Mitchell’s story and the type of person he was.

Mitchell was always goofy, fun and the life of the party. He was a loyal and reliable friend, a phenomenal athlete, and extremely vibrant. People were always drawn to him, and sometimes he was a “chick magnet,” Sebald said.

He loved collecting Nike shoes, fishing with his grandpa and dancing with his younger brother Vincent, according to his obituary . He enjoyed playing soccer and basketball, spending time outdoors and farming.

“As tragic and devastating as Mitchell's passing was, his family finds comfort knowing that he was doing what he loved,” the obituary read. “He even had dreams of one day owning his own farm.”

Sebald thinks of the all things she still wanted to do with Mitchell, like new trips. She and Mitchell took a vacation to California when he was about 10 years old, filling their week with whale watching, deep-sea fishing and high-speed go-cart racing. He told her that was the best week of his life and he wanted to go back with her when he was older.

"I always figured that for his 21st birthday, that's what I would do. That would have been his gift," she said. "It never got to happen."

Sebald said people shouldn't put off things they think they'll have time for in the future because there's no guarantee. She's heard similar sentiments from other USMWF families.

Honoring her son with a new purpose

When asked what impact an OSHA investigation would’ve had on her, her son and her family, Sebald said she couldn’t answer that beyond knowing she wouldn't be working to get the exemption removed.

“That was never the position that I was put in, you know what I mean?” Sebald said. “I can only answer what I have had to deal with since that day.”

USMWF has been a “lifeline” since Sebald got involved in 2022. She said she wasn’t sure how she’d be able to carry on after Mitchell's death. Dealing with grief is not a linear experience for Sebald. The first month after his death was “horrific.” The first year was “nuts still.” There is no timeframe.

“Even on your good and your happy days, there's just that sadness that you carry inside that’s just always going to be there,” Sebald said. “But I get so much joy and happiness now, and I feel like I have just such a purpose.”

Have a story tip? Contact Alex Garner at 224-374-2332 or agarner@gannett.com . Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @alexx_garner .

This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: There was no OSHA investigation into Mitchell McDaniel's death. His mom is pushing to remove the exemption that prevented it.