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At 6 a.m. on November 11, Amber Czech was found dead at her workstation at Advanced Process Technologies in Cokato, Minnesota. She was 20 years old.
The Czech, who had completed a 10-month welding program in the spring of 2024, was still new to the trades. She was working at the mechanical and electrical/automation engineering company’s facility when co-worker David Bruce Delong allegedly hit her with a hammer multiple times, according to a criminal complaint filed by Wright County Attorney Brian Lutes on November 12th.
Delong confessed to officials that he had killed Czech after planning it for some time, according to the criminal complaint. Lutes is seeking charges of second-degree murder.
Delong told investigators he “didn’t like” the Czech, according to Dassel, Minnesota Enterprise Dispatch. The newspaper reported that an alleged family member issued a public statement on Facebook, saying Delong’s relatives had cut off contact with him years ago due to security concerns.
Czech Amber
In response to his death, business groups and organizations called for action. Industry stakeholders are calling for better measures to protect employees, especially women, from workplace violence.
“We must face the truth that too many women in the trades have experienced hostility, intimidation, harassment and threats in workplaces where the warning signs were visible, but not addressed,” Rita Brown, president of the National Association of Women in Construction, said in a statement.
NAWIC held an emergency town hall on November 14 to emphasize the urgency of protecting workplaces from violence. The organization asked for it systems to protect physical and psychological safetyto include:
- Clear, accessible and reprisal-free reporting channels.
- Compulsory and meaningful training on violence intervention and prevention.
- Zero tolerance enforcement of harassment, bullying, discrimination and threats.
- Liability of supervisors and managers who fail to act.
- A cultural reboot that rejects the normalization of hostility towards offices.
In response to Czech’s death, Construction Unions of North America President Sean McGarvey condemned the violence and called for change.
“Violence has no place in our workplaces,” McGarvey said in a statement. “Through initiatives such as the NABTU RESPECT program and TradesFutures TWBN, we are working to transform workplace culture by tackling bullying, harassment and violence head-on, ensuring all workers are treated with dignity and protected from harm.”
Czech was not a member of NABTU, according to the statement.
OSHA does not have a standard rule for a protect workers from violence in the workplace. Instead, the agency has singled out some industries that often see workers at higher risk of violence, such as those that frequently exchange cash in hand or those that require long hours of night work.
The agency also recommends that employers establish a zero-tolerance policy toward workplace violence and implement a well-written workplace violence prevention program.
