The death of 20-year-old welder Amber Czech, found murdered on the job at a Minnesota equipment fabrication facility, has ignited urgent calls for workplace protection reforms across the construction and industrial sectors. Czech, a recent graduate who had been in the trades for less than a year, was killed before the start of her shift at Advanced Process Technologies in Cokato on Nov. 11.
According to a criminal complaint issued by Wright County Attorney Brian Lutes, coworker David Bruce Delong allegedly struck her “multiple times” with a sledgehammer after planning the attack in advance. Lutes is seeking second-degree murder charges. Delong reportedly confessed that he “just didn’t like” Czech, as reported by the Dassel, Minnesota Enterprise Dispatch. The newspaper also cited a public post from a person claiming to be a family member, stating that Delong’s relatives had severed ties “years ago due to safety concerns.”
A promising trades career, only months in, is now at the center of a national reckoning over jobsite safety for women. Czech completed a 10-month welding certificate program in spring 2024 before entering the workforce. Her path reflects a rising number of women choosing skilled trades careers — a statistic that labor advocates now fear will be overshadowed by fear and unaddressed jobsite hostility.
Trade groups responded swiftly, demanding stronger systems to bring violence, harassment, and workplace hostility out of the shadows.
In a statement, Rita Brown, president of the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC), emphasized that Czech’s death reveals a systemic failure:
“We must confront the truth that too many tradeswomen have endured hostility, intimidation, harassment, and threats on jobsites where warning signs were visible—but unaddressed.”
NAWIC convened an emergency town hall on Nov. 14, issuing five key demands for change, including retaliation-free reporting, mandatory prevention training, and zero-tolerance enforcement against harassment, threats, bullying, and violence. The group also pressed for accountability measures for supervisors, saying jobsite culture won’t change without consequences for those who ignore warning signs.
North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) President Sean McGarvey condemned the killing, using the moment to reinforce existing jobsite culture programs, including NABTU RESPECT and TradesFutures TWBN.
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“Violence has no place on our job sites,” McGarvey said. “Through initiatives like the NABTU RESPECT program and TradesFutures TWBN, we are working to transform jobsite culture by addressing harassment, bullying, and violence head-on, ensuring every worker is treated with dignity and protected from harm.”
Although Czech was not a NABTU member, the killing has accelerated demands for cultural reforms benefiting workers across all sectors of the trades.
Despite recurring cases of jobsite violence, OSHA still has no workplace violence prevention standard. Current rules provide only general recommendations, urging companies to adopt zero-tolerance policies and to build structured violence prevention programs. OSHA highlights industries with high-risk environments — including late-night shifts or frequent cash-handling — but construction and manufacturing sites are not directly regulated for violence risks, leaving policies largely voluntary.
Czech’s death has become a flashpoint for advocacy groups, union organizers, and tradeswomen who say years of harassment reports have been minimized or ignored. Industry leaders now argue that workplace hostility is not just cultural — it is a safety hazard with deadly stakes.
Advocates are pushing to make employer accountability mandatory rather than optional, arguing that real change will require clear legislation, enforceable safety rules, and transparent reporting systems that do not punish workers for speaking up.
Originally reported by Zachary Phillips in Construction Dive.
