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2013 Fatality Tracker
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INDUSTRIAL Y-12 worker suffered chemical burns in accident, company says corrective actions developed (a worker received chemical burns to his face and eyelids while checking a problem with a system in the nuclear weapons plant’s Beta-2 facility – the employee was checking a system that is used to recycle lithium hydride powder when the material discharged into his face – he was wearing safety glasses at the time – the operator has since returned to work) FATALITY Apparent accident kills utility worker (a water utility worker, 47, was found dead at a pumping site – preliminary investigation suggests the death resulted from a horrible accident – the call came in about 9 a.m. reporting an accident involving a water utility truck – when investigators got there they found the worker already dead – he had worked for the water authority for 12 1/2 years – he was found right at the gate – investigators say from what they saw when they arrived on scene, it appears he was hit by a company truck) MINING FATALITY Worker killed at Eagle River mine (officials are investigating a fatal mining accident – a worker was killed when he was accidentally buried under dirt from a mining extraction, or “muck pile”) LOTO FATALITY Worker dies in blender: Man falls into running blender at meat plant, dies (a worker, 41, fell into a running blender and died – he worked for a Sanitation company and it is the cleaning company contracted by the plant where the accident took place – around 11:45 p.m. – a worker at the scene hit the emergency stop button, but there was no way to save the worker – firefighters returned to the plant to dismantle the machine so that they could get to the body and remove it – the death is due to “blunt-force injuries and chopping wounds” – an OSHA inspection from fall of 2012 states that during cleaning, machines were not locked. An inspector believes that an “unexpected start-up of the machine” could cause possible injuries) FATALITY Worker dies at Rio Tinto Alcan’s Alma plant (a worker, 36, died in a workplace accident – the female employee was found at 1 a.m. by a co-worker in the facility’s anode plant) HF ACID Three Samsung workers injured in second serious acid leak at chip plant (there’s been a second major leak of hydrofluoric acid at a main chip factory – three workers are said to have been injured, with no word yet on how badly – only three months have passed since the last such accident at the plant, which proved to be fatal and which got the company a nominal $1,000 fine as well as a telling-off from police investigators – at approximately 11:30 a.m. three contract workers were partially exposed to diluted hydrofluoric acid – the workers received immediate first aid attention on site and were admitted to hospital for further examination – it occurred while the workers were upgrading parts of an existing facility) UPDATE on LOTO AMPUTATION Man who lost leg in meat-mixer accident sues Amarillo pet food company (a worker at an a pet food company is suing his employer for more than $1 million, claiming the company’s negligence caused a meat-mixer accident that resulted in the employee losing a foot and a leg among other injuries – the suit stems from a Feb. 15 incident in which the worker was cleaning a meat mixer when his supervisor “abandoned his post early, leaving (him) and two other workers to clean … the meat mixer/auger without supervision” the suit said – he was required to climb into the mixer and clean it with a scouring pad, and he turned off the mixer’s power switch before beginning, the suit said – someone turned the mixer on while he was inside it, the suit said – his right leg and left foot were amputated as a result of the accident, and he also suffered internal organ and soft tissue injuries and a crushed pelvis, among other injuries, the suit said) PIPELINE REPAIR FLASH FIRE Flare-up in pipeline burns worker’s face (employee was treated at a Medical Center for burns to his face after natural gas from an underground pipeline caught fire and flared up at him about 11:45 a.m. – a couple of nearby homes were evacuated as a precaution, but residents were allowed back inside once firefighters and Gas officials had the scene secured – he was part of a crew that was making repairs to an old, 4-inch pipeline that had developed a small leak – he was in a hole where the pipeline is located, about four feet deep – utility spokesman described the injury as “serious, but not life threatening”) UPDATE Explosion at coal-fired Plant Bowen attributed to worker error (the generator explosion at a coal-fired Plant in early April appears to be the result of worker error – company has concluded the first part of its internal investigation and is attributing the blast to an explosive mix of hydrogen and air inside of one of the plant’s generator units – the company has determined a breakdown in staff communication and a failure to comply with procedure is what set the stage for the accident – in the mid-afternoon on April 4, a blast occurred as the Unit 2 generator was being taken offline for a scheduled maintenance outage – no serious injuries were reported, but there was significant damage to the control rooms for Units 1 and 2) ARC FLASH Explosion at Magna plant injures workers (an explosion at a manufacturing facility injured nine people – five or six (reports vary) were sent to the hospital – all workers have since been released from the hospital – the explosion was described by the company as a “minor arc flash explosion,” on the manufacturing line, and notes that there was no fire as a result of it – all of the plant’s 200 employees were evacuated after the event) HOTWORK EXPLOSION Explosion in Watford City (a worker was welding on a non vented tanker truck that had oil and water residue inside – the truck exploded straight up into the air, and blew the entire left side of the roof wide open – the building was roped off after the explosion, and work was stopped – emergency workers have an idea of what caused the explosion – “You should never be welding on a non vented tank of any kind, especially if there is some residue of oil, gas, fumes, and we believe that’s probably what caused the explosion,” said McKenzie County Emergency Manager Jerry Samuelson – there were no injuries in the explosion) HOTWORK FIRE Welding Sparks Fire At Chesterfield Aluminum Plant (a fire burning at a metal recycling plant began as crews were welding inside the plant, working to repair damage from a fire that broke out just two weeks ago – fire crews are working to extinguish the fire and have moved to a neighboring building’s roof to try and break down the flames – no injuries have been reported) FIRE Shell extinguishes fire after ‘tube burst’ at Pernis refinery (refinery said it had put out a fire caused by a “tube burst” – the fire had a limited effect on operations at its 400,000 bpd refinery – the refinery fire brigade and the combined fire brigade are on the spot for assistance) AMMONIA LEAK caused by MONKEYS 12 fell unconscious after Ammonia gas leak (at least twelve people fell unconscious due to Ammonia gas leakage in a plant – fire brigade officials managed to plug the leakage in around two-three hours – leakage started from the gas tank in the morning, initial investigations suggests that the lid of the tanker was broken by the monkeys in the area – around twelve persons including two plant workers fell unconscious, some people complained of nausea, breathlessness and burning sensation in their eyes) AMMONIA Anhydrous ammonia leak closes part of Hwy. 10 (an anhydrous ammonia leak forced the closure of a section of Highway – gas was leaking from a storage tank and drifting toward the highway – “Somehow, (the tanks)’s stack blew off in the wind and it started to leak anhydrous gas” – the ammonia was leaking from a valve that couldn’t be repaired until the tank is empty – gas was still venting as crews were transferring the liquid ammonia from the damaged tank onto trucks – no workers were at the site when the incident happened) CHLORINE Evacuation lifted after chlorine leak in Orange County (a chlorine gas leak, which prompted evacuations, has been sealed – the first call came into dispatch just after 10:30 a.m. in an industrial area – no injuries were reported and employees have been allowed back in) CHLORINE Chlorine gas leak contained in Norfolk (a small leak of chlorine was contained in the town’s sewer system before anyone was seriously hurt- workers at the Sewer District were connecting a 150-pound cylinder of compressed chlorine to the system when a valve on the tank failed) CONSTRUCTION CANE FATALITY Worker killed in UAQ port accident (a worker died after a heavy piece of iron fell off a crane onto his head at 5.15am – initial investigations show that the worker was watching a wrench fixed on a ship anchoring while loading cargos, when a heavy piece of iron fell on his head – he died on the spot) CRANE FATALITY Worker Speaks on Deadly Crane Accident (a crane collapsed leaving two workers dead – it happened at a Steel Plant – both were employees of an Excavating contractor – accident happened around 12:45 p.m. – they were rigging a load onto to the crane, when something snapped – the two workers died instantly) TAR Construction worker burned by liquid tar in workplace mishap (a construction worker, 45, was working with tar heated to 60 degrees Celsius – the worker was connecting a hose linked to the container of tar when something gave way and he was splashed with the extremely hot liquid – “Something unclipped and the tar under pressure shot onto his face, arms and right side of his body” – a co-worker close by heard the pop and the screams that followed) Highway Worker Killed in Accident (a road worker, 58, was killed when his excavator fell into the Baptism River – the accident happened just after 2:30 pm – County Highway Crews were working to clear an ice jam when the backhoe the worker was operating flipped into the river – co-workers were unable to local the worker) PROPANE LEAK Propane tank valve struck by workers; blast averted (construction workers accidentally struck a valve from an underground propane tank, putting a small hole in the tank that was filled with between 200 and 300 gallons of propane – some of the propane dissipated in the air, and some of it was burned off later, but authorities said there was no explosion, and there were no injuries – authorities tried to evacuate the four families living in the houses closest to the tank, but three of them were not at home, and the fourth already was in the process of leaving at the time) FATAL FALL thru FLOOR HOLE Worker dies on falling from fourth floor (worker, 25, died after falling from the fourth floor – he stepped onto plywood that covered an air circulation hole on the fourth floor that went straight down to the ground floor – the victim’s head was crushed as it hit the ground – he died at the scene) MISCELLANEOUS FARM TRUCK FATALITY Adams Co. worker killed in potato farm accident (a worker, 26, was killed in a truck accident at a potato farm – he apparently fell from a truck he was working on and ended up underneath the trailer of a semi-truck as it backed up alongside him – he was struck by the trailer’s so-called landing gear, was pronounced dead at the scene about 6:30 a.m. near a potato building at a farm) WOOD CHIPPER FATALITY Wood chipper accident kills 1 worker, injures another (a man who was injured during an industrial accident has died – two men were conducting tree work for a Tree Service when a cable used for tree destruction was caught in a wood chipper and struck both workers – one of the workers, 60, succumbed to significant injuries throughout his body after being transported to a Hospital – the other worker, 47, injured during the incident is listed in stable condition at the hospital, where he’s also recovering from his injuries) DRAINING POND Man suffers serious injuries in pipe accident in Lexington pond (one of three workers hurt while working on a pipe in a pond reportedly has severe, but not life-threatening, injuries – one employee and two temporary workers were taken to a Hospital after an accident at a private pond about 9:50 a.m. – a worker got his arm trapped in a pipe that was 10 inches in diameter – he suffered bruises and was in fair condition – but a temporary worker was injured when he freed the worker – he had severe but not life-threatening injuries, according to hospital reports – he was in serious condition – the workers were draining a pond) LAB EXPLOSION 1 dead, 4 injured in E. China lab explosion (one person was killed and four others were injured in an explosion that occurred at a university – firefighters rescue a construction worker buried in a blast – the explosion, which took place at around 9 am in a laboratory, caused the building to collapse, burying three construction workers in the rubble – one person was killed and four others were injured – the university said the explosion occurred while the lab was being demolished by a construction crew) CRUSHED by GRANITE Half-ton of granite crushes worker’s legs, pelvis (a worker, 20, was trapped for more than 45 minutes under 12 to 20, 200 pound granite slabs as the load shifted while unloading it – he was part of a crew that was unloading about 30 four-by-ten granite slabs, each weighing about 300 pounds – as the work was going on, the load suddenly shifted – as the granite began to fall on around the man, he dove to the far corner of the container) FATAL FALL in ELEVATOR SHAFT Brooklyn Worker Dies Trying To Crawl Out Of Stuck Elevator (a worker, 25, at a Navy Yard died after he got stuck in an elevator and attempted to crawl out – he was leaving the building around 10:30 p.m. when the elevator got stuck between the fourth and fifth floors due to a power outage – in the darkness, he was able to pry open both of the doors—but he slipped and fell through a gap, falling to the bottom of the elevator shaft – a security guard on duty heard him land on the ground and called police) |
What’s New @ SAFTENG.net Storing Ammonium Nitrate in Ohio How many Program 2 RMPs like West Fertilizer are out here?
OSHA Update – Most Frequently cited SERIOUS Citations
2013 Video of the Week #18 (Forklift Accident)
2013 Photo of the Week #18 (ANOTHER Safety Banner Installation)
FREE Emergency HAZMAT Planning Guide
The lost art of preplanning and the role of the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC)
OSHA issues PRCS citations to Brewery ($88,000)
West, TX Explosion and Community Emergency Response Plan?
Compliance Tip: Electrical Safety Related Work Practices
West, TX Fertilizer… a lesson in “process safety” and the “retail facility” exemption?
Aerial video of Mobile, AL barge explosion damage
Ammonium Nitrate Sensitization (explaining one West, TX scenario)
Safety Alert – Care and Use of Ammonia Gas Cylinders
HIGH CHALLENGE Warehousing: Ammonium Nitrate as a typical case study (NFPA)
MSHA Safety Alert – Electrical Solenoid Safety
Animation of Fire at Chevron’s Richmond Refinery, August 6, 2012
Compliance Tip: Bloodborne Pathogen Training
EPA RMP citations @ Wheat Milling operation ($4K)
How could the TX fertilizer plant be a Program 2 RMP?
TX Fertilizer Plant Explosion analysis (videos/photos)
Hydrogen Fluoride Study, Report to Congress Section 112(n)(6) Clean Air
Sprinkler System’s OS&Y Valves
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