Timeline: OSHA investigating alleged Greer recycling plant death. Here's what we know.

Clarification: This article has been updated to clarify Alex Burrell Gordon's preferred name.

South Carolina's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released information Wednesday related to the timeline of their investigation into the alleged death of Alex Burrell Gordon at the Industrial Recovery & Recycling plant in Greer.

States can opt-in to federal OSHA plan or create their own. South Carolina is one of 22 states that has its own, state OSHA plan. 

Greer recycling plant death:Attorney for father of Alex Gordon files workers compensation claim

Timeline of events related to the incident and investigation: 

May 5, 2022

►20-year-old Duncan "Alex" Burrell Gordon is last seen during the early morning hours at his overnight shift at Industrial Recovery and Recycling at 3100 Green Rd, Greer, SC 29651. 

►Burrell Gordon, a Powdersville High School graduate, clocks in for his 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. shift the evening of May 4. 

Alex and his father, Michael William Gordon, ate a meal together shortly after midnight on May 5, Charles Hodge, Michael Gordon's attorney, said on July 11. 

Hodge also said the process Alex typically used involves a forklift to lift up a large bucket of recyclable material, such as carpeting, above the shredder.

►Michael Gordon filed a missing person report with the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office later that day, according to Jaime Burrell Dill, Alex's mother. 

May 7, 2022

►The Federal OSHA hotline received a call from one of Burrell Gordon's family members indicating he was missing and may have fallen into a shredder at the recycling plant, SC OSHA said. 

May 9, 2022

►The message to the Federal OSHA hotline was forwarded to SC OSHA. SC OSHA then contacted the Spartanburg County Coroner’s Office. SC OSHA said they were informed the Coroner’s Office had not been dispatched for a fatality.

May 11, 2022

►SC OSHA contacted the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office. SC OSHA was informed that the incident was being handled as a missing person investigation.

"Because SC OSHA does not investigate missing persons, and a fatality or worker injury could not be confirmed by either the Coroner’s or Sheriff’s Office, SC OSHA closely monitored media reports and any subsequent information to confirm a workplace incident," said Lesia Kudelka, Communications Director and Ombudsman for the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulations (SCDLLR).

Previous reporting:OSHA, Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office investigate death of Greer man at recycling plant

Between May 5-June 10

►At some point between May 5, when Burrell Gordon was first reported missing, and June 10, when Clevenger said his office received a positive DNA match, the machine involved in the incident was viewed three separate times, according to Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger in a July 6 press release. 

The third viewing yielded human material under the conveyor belt adjoined to the plastic shredder where Burrell Gordon allegedly disappeared. 

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►Viewing No. 1: By Burrell Gordon's father, who was also the supervisor of Alex Gordon and the entire plant. "After his check, the machine was started again," Clevenger wrote. "The machine has been shut down multiple times for the reviews."

►Viewing No. 2: By a uniformed Patrol Supervisor with the Sheriff’s Office "just after the missing report was filed." 

SC OSHA said they were informed May 11 that the Sheriff's Office had opened a missing person investigation. The specific date is not known. The Sheriff's Office has denied the Herald-Journal's requests to share any incident reports or specific dates they visited the Greer site. 

►Viewing No. 3: By Sheriff’s investigators along with "certified and proven cadaver K-9’s days after the report."

"The third search was when the material found under the conveyor belt was recovered by a Detective and was immediately tested by a presumptive testing module that tests for human blood vs. animal blood," Clevenger wrote. "It was negative on scene. The material was desiccated so it was hydrated in a lab later. After hydration, it tested positive for human blood. What we have tested and was positive came from under a support under the conveyor belt just after the plastic shredding machine."

June 10, 2022

►Clevenger said his office received positive results of testing for the DNA of Alex Burrell Gordon, according to a press release issued July 6. 

June 14, 2022

►Viewing No. 4: According to Clevenger, the Coroner's Office visited Industrial Recovery and Recycling "to view the machine for the fourth time" and interviewed persons on site. 

►SC OSHA said they learned of a potential DNA match to Gordon's parents. 

►SC OSHA attempted to confirm the DNA match with the Coroner’s Office. The Coroner’s Office did not confirm a fatality specifically, according to SC OSHA. Clevenger has said his office is unable to issue a death certificate absent a body. 

June 16, 2022

►A fatality/catastrophe (FAT/CAT) investigation into Industrial Recovery and Recycling is opened by SC OSHA. 

June 28, 2022

►Michael Gordon petitions for a declaration of death for Alex Burrell Gordon in Spartanburg County Probate Court. 

►The petition reads that since no standard death certificate has been issued due to "unusual circumstances causing the death by machine," significant evidence shall be brought before the court at the proper time and date to prove Alex Gordon died at work. 

July 1, 2022

►Michael Gordon files a workers compensation claim regarding the "accidental injury to the death" of Alex Gordon.

►The claim states that Burrell Gordon was "sucked into a shredding machine and killed."

►The claim also states that Burrell Gordon and IRR had an employer-employee relationship at the time of his death, Burrell Gordon was performing work-related duties during the deadly injury-resulting incident, and both Burrell Gordon and IRR were subject to the South Carolina Workers' Compensation Act at the time. 

Taking it to court:Father of Alex Gordon petitions for declaration of death, files workers comp claim

July 6, 2022

►Clevenger issued a press release stating the Coroner's Office findings. Included in the release is the statement that the machine in question had been viewed "at least four times."

►Clevenger also confirmed his office closed their missing person investigation but could not issue a conventional death certificate since there is no body. 

►Clevenger said state regulations require another remedy for closure, given the inability of his office to issue a death certificate. He also said the family "has been made aware of the process."

►Clevenger said his office will not comment, "because other agency(ies) are investigating."

July 7, 2022

►SC OSHA confirms to the Herald-Journal they are investigating because the incident happened in the workplace. 

►Jason Hoag, President of Industrial Recovery & Recycling, Inc., declined to discuss the incident but said the plant's owners would "probably be issuing a statement in the coming days." 

Chalmers Rogland, a Wofford College graduate, covers public safety and breaking news for the Herald-Journal. Reach him via email at crogland@shj.com. Find him on Twitter @CRogland.