Occupational Hazing

Occupational Hazing

1946

SS Frederick Galbraith work ship

Crossing the Line ceremony, non-military

Occupational hazing

Teenage workers Leroy Robert Bragg, 14, and Stanford Fluit, 16, died from an overdose of saltpeter meant as a joke during a ship’s hazing at the Equator.

Other crewmen became ill but lived. Survivors were Milton Fleishman and Harry Rose

2004

Occupational Hazing

Denton County, Texas

Republic Energy Drilling Company

In 2004, a fatal occupational initiation in Denton County, Texas, led to a jury trial that ended with a 38-year-old drilling rig hazer receiving an 18-year prison sentence—only two years less than the maximum penalty the law allowed. 23-year-old Shawn Davis, a new employee of Republic Energy Drilling Company, was hooked to a cable by veteran workers and then accidentally tossed and dragged to his death.