Donald Hemstock thinks a $5 pair of canvas work gloves could have saved his brother's life.

He thinks Chris Hemstock would be alive today if he had received proper supervision and training and been adequately outfitted in safety gear. He feels certain his brother would have joined Saturday's first birthday celebration for Chris Hemstock's son, Daniel, if Roanoke Electric Steel Corp. had shut down a 480-volt "hot rail" powering an overhead crane that was the focus of Chris' routine maintenance.

Chris Hemstock's death by electrocution remains under investigation. It has not been officially confirmed that the "hot rail" played a role but Donald Hemstock believes it did. On Wednesday, Sam Miller, Roanoke Electric Steel's director of human resources and safety director, did not disagree.

"Although there were no witnesses, we are fairly sure that's what it was," Miller said.

Today, Donald Hemstock said, "what if" questions haunt members of the Hemstock family.

What if the "hot rail" had been shut off and tagged out so power would not be restored during the maintenance work? What if Chris, who was 35 when he died, had worn rubber gloves or maybe even work gloves? What if a supervisor had witnessed the electrocution and immediately knocked Chris clear from the current?

"The same questions keep coming around," said Donald Hemstock. "It was just really senseless. It never should have happened. Never."

Brothers Donald and Michael Hemstock visited Roanoke Electric Steel in the grief-stricken days after Chris died on the job April 30. Miller led them to the accident site. At the time, before autopsy results, the cause of death wasn't clear.

Michael, 31, and Donald, 36, are licensed electricians in Connecticut, where their licenses as electrical journeymen are active, according to a state Web site. They said as soon as they observed the scene, they knew what had killed their brother.

"We looked at each other and we knew he got electrocuted," Donald said. "We knew it right away."

Donald said Miller told them Chris had been conducting routine maintenance on the crane, which is used to move material in the steelyard. He said he was told sometime during that weekend that Chris had been greasing bearings or wheels within inches of the "hot rail." Donald said his brother had been a maintenance worker for just a few weeks and should have been better trained and equipped before working on the crane.

On Monday, Joe Crawford, president and chief operating officer for Roanoke Electric Steel, differed with the Hemstock brothers' account.

"We feel like all the precautions were taken. He was assigned to do a visual inspection," Crawford said, and had not been instructed to grease bearings or wheels.

Donald said Chris' widow, Teresa, told him Chris often did visual inspections, but with the understanding he was expected to remedy problems or attend to preventive maintenance.

"That's not my understanding," Miller said.

Crawford declined additional comment, noting that the Occupational Safety and Health Compliance program of the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry is still investigating the death.

Meanwhile, Michael and Donald Hemstock said they know nothing they say or do will bring their brother back. The men were in Roanoke this past weekend to celebrate their nephew Daniel's first birthday. Daniel is the son of Chris and Teresa Hemstock. Chris also had a stepson, Seth Morse.

They said Chris, whom they described as an outdoorsman, loved Roanoke and felt more at home here than in his native Connecticut. They said he enjoyed his work at Roanoke Electric Steel, where he'd been employed since January 2004.

"I'm not here to bad mouth the plant," Michael said. "I was only in the plant for half an hour. I'm not an inspector and I haven't walked through the whole place.

"I just want to make sure my brother is not forgotten," he added. "He was a great father, a great brother, a great husband."