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Bruce A. Cheeseman, of Cedarville, was working at Timberlane Welding & Services Inc. in Mullica Hill when the fatal accident occurred on June 15, 2022. The company performs truck and trailer repairs.
The lawsuit filed by Lisa Labrusciano, as Executor of the Estate, does not mention a dollar amount sought but also names Taylor Oil Co. — which owned the truck being worked on — a yet unidentified Philadelphia garage "ABC Corp." and the Timberlane company owner as co-defendants.
Cheeseman was welding nipples to the top of a fuel tank truck when the tank exploded “blowing the employee through the building roof and a considerable vertical distance above the building itself,” according to a report by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (OSHA)
Daily Voice reached out to Timberlane Services where an employee said the owner had left for the day. A call was made to Taylor Oil in Bellmawr where a receptionist said, "They're not going to call you back."
"The explosion that threw Bruce Cheeseman’s body through the air, landing 25 to 30 feet from where he had been working, was caused by the negligent, careless, reckless, grossly negligent, willful and wonton conduct of Defendants. . ." the lawsuit says.
OSHA levied more than $38,000 in fines against Timberlane in March 2023.
Among the OSHA findings was a "willful and serious violation" that said welding was performed on used drums or tanks that had not been cleaned. OSHA also cited a lack of training about hazardous chemicals in the workplace.
"The employee was killed, sustaining blunt force trauma to the head and torso from the explosion itself, the impact with the building roof and landing on the ground outside the work bay entrance," an earlier OSHA report says.
Timberlane contested the findings and the total penalty was reduced to $20,000 under a settlement agreement between federal regulators and the business, according to details posted online by OSHA.
As part of the settlement, the willful violation of welding precautions was amended to a “serious violation,'' the OSHA website says.
The OSHA penalty against Timberlane was reduced to $20,000 in December 2023 as a result of a stipulated settlement between the U.S. Department of Labor and Timberlane, according to Joanna Hawkins, an OSHA spokeswoman.
"The penalty needs to be paid and then the case will be closed," Hawkins said on Thursday, May 2. The company has addressed the citations, she said.
Affectionately known as "Boobo," Cheeseman was remembered in his obituary on the Padgett Funeral Home website as the "ultimate gentleman of Cedarville." He was an RC plane and motorcycle enthusiast, and loved being outdoors. He had worked at Timberlane for 20 years and was an "exceptional" mechanic and welder, his obituary reads.
"There was no engine he could not fix," it says.
Surviving Cheeseman is the love of his life and partner of 20 years, Lisa Labrusciano, his father, Bruce Taylor; sister, Alice Johnson; and a host of other loved ones.
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