37-year-old fatally struck in head at Chicago Heights shipping company

A 37-year-old worker died after he was struck in the head Friday morning at a shipping company in south suburban Chicago Heights.

Eric Schneider was working in a trailer at YRC Freight at 2000 Lincoln Hwy. in Chicago Heights about 5:30 a.m. when he was struck in the head by an RV panel, according to OSHA and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Schneider, who lived in the 13800 block of Hiawatha Court in Homer Glen, was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he died at 9:15 p.m. Friday, according to the medical examiner’s office. An autopsy found he died of compressional injures from a workplace accident.

OSHA opened an inspection on Friday, according to spokesman Scott Allen. YRC Freight is a shipping company that specializes in industrial, commercial and retail goods, according to its website.

The YRC Freight location in Chicago Heights was previously cited for fafety violations after an OSHA inspection in 2010, and also was issued one serious violation after another inspection in 2011.

YRC Freight has locations nationwide, and has had more than 100 OSHA inspections throughout the country since 1972, according to OSHA. Two workers died at YRC sites in 2015 in California and North Carolina.