Lorna McMurrey: The untimely death of a worker at Trulieve

Mt. Holyoke, MA – The employees at Trulieve in Mt. Holyoke were desperate for solutions and in the midst of a unionizing campaign with the UFCW 1445, when one of their coworkers was killed on the job. In January of 2022, 27 year old Lorna McMurrey collapsed due to cardiac and respiratory arrest at the Trulieve cannabis facility she worked at in Mt. Holyoke, Massachusetts (NBC 10). She passed away 4 days later after being on life support. Lorna’s step-father gave a statement saying she asked him for a proper respirator to use at work because she was having trouble breathing and that Trulieve was not providing adequate PPE. During the time of Lorna’s infelicitous passing, the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission was probing the very facility where she lost her life. State officials assert that the facility was under investigation after the commission received complaints from workers, and as of mid October, is still an active case. 

The original OSHA report states that Lorna was “killed due to the hazards of ground cannabis dust”, but that information has recently been removed from the official report, and replaced with “details to be added later”. The agency cited and fined Trulieve for 2 different issues, neither of them being for her untimely death. OSHA acknowledged that employees were not properly trained on workplace dangers and failed to keep an accurate record of hazardous materials used in the facility. The fines administered by OSHA are being contested by Trulieve, who are still claiming they provided proper PPE (which OSHA agrees with) and claim no wrongdoing, citing that OSHA did an air quality test and the results fall within the acceptable guidelines (Boston Globe). However, making something available and requiring it are two very different things…