31 incidents & 1 update (7/26/12)

2012 Fatality Tracker

INDUSTRIAL

LOADING DOCK FATALITY OSHA investigating accidental death of Greensboro industrial worker (an industrial worker, 43, was killed in an accident – he was found pinned between a commercial carrier cab and its trailer around 10:30 a.m. – he was pronounced dead at the scene – a preliminary investigation revealed that he got into the path of the backing vehicle as the driver was attempting to connect the trailer)

FATAL FALL from PLATFORM Petrotrin employee falls to his death on the job (a worker, 59, fell to his death while carrying out maintenance work on a platform – he was a temporary employee was engaged in the routine servicing of a valve on a platform approximately six feet high on the FCCU plant – during this exercise the valve bonnet blew out and the employee fell off the platform – he was rushed to a Hospital for medical treatment when he succumbed at 6.50pm.)

LOTO/GUARDING FATALITY Mill worker fondly remembered (a worker, 25, died of traumatic injuries after getting caught in machinery at the  mill shortly before 7:20 p.m. – worker began working at the mill five years ago – he worked as a relief operator, filling in for people on various machines, at the time of his death)

ARC FLASH Electrical accident burns 2 workers in Chase Tower (two electric workers received second-degree burns from electrical shocks while working in an equipment room – one worker, 43, was burned on his face and arms and was taken to a burn unit – the other man, 24, was burned on his face and was taken to a Hospital, where he spent one night before being released – the men were working on an electrical panel when the shock occurred – no one else was injured)

FIRE Fire at Cleveland plant sends bullets flying, one worker to hospital (bullets went flying through the plant when a machine used to make ammunition caught on fire just after 9 p.m. – a worker near the machine was burned on his arms and chest when his shirt also caught fire – the worker was taken to a Medical Center – two others were injured – firefighters were forced to hide behind a wall so they could safely continue spraying water on the blaze)

CRUSHING FATALITY w/ LOG Worker crushed to death at Nelson sawmill (a worker, 42, has been crushed to death by falling timber at a sawmill – he was working alone when the incident happened at around 12.30 p.m. and died at the scene – the cause of the accident is not yet known)

FATAL METHANOL FIRE 1 Dead, Others Missing After Chemical Tanker Explosion (a chemical tanker suffered from an onboard fire and impacted operations at a delivery plant at the giant methanol production facility – officials are blaming a lightning strike as the cause of the fire – the massive fire blew out the internal piping of the vessel as a fireboat attempted to drown the flames – it was loaded with methanol at the time of the incident; fortunately, the fire has now been contained – the vessel is 80 percent destroyed)

DUST EXPLOSION @ POWER PLANT Explosion rocks PGE power plant in southern Poland (a coal dust explosion sparked a fire that caused a shutdown of three out of eight blocks of the plant responsible for 7 percent of the country’s power supply – explosion slightly injured four, but caused no casualties – the explosion was caused by coal dust)

METHANE EXPLOSION Explosion and fire at Aumsville factory (an explosion and fire caused $250,000 in damages – a leak in the rubber-domed roof of a methane generator gave out and led to the blast at 12:15 p.m. – the plant converts manure from a neighboring dairy farm to bio-gas and uses the methane to create electricity – the tank with the leak was directly upwind from a generator’s burner, which is used to burn off spare methane – wind blew leaking methane into the burner, which ignited the leaking tank – heat from the fire burned the roof of the pressurized tank, causing it to ignite and creating a fireball –  no injuries)

UPDATE on AMMONIA LEAK State, feds probe Smithfield leak (state and federal inspectors are investigating an ammonia leak in late May at the hog processing plant that sent eight people to hospitals – a portion of the plant where 400 employees work was evacuated May 31 after the leak was detected about 8:40 p.m. – plant officials believed a rupture in a coil on a cooling unit caused the leak – the ammonia release happened in the kill floor area of the plant – seven of the eight workers, who had complained of respiratory issues and general sickness, were treated at hospitals and released the same evening – the other worker, employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was hospitalized and that worker’s status was unavailable)

AMMONIA Ammonia leak forces evacuation of South Surrey cold storage (a cold storage plant was evacuated after an ammonia leak was detected around 5 a.m. – the plant was evacuated and ambulance crews and a Hazmat team were called in to stand by while engineers worked to repair what was described as a small but stubborn leak in a hose – no injuries were reported – facility is used primarily to freeze up to 220,000 lbs. of fresh fish a day, with a storage capacity of approximately 10 million lbs)

AMMONIA Ammonia leak forces evacuation at Rice University (an ammonia leak forced the evacuation of a four-story building on campus – the ammonia fumes leaked from a cylinder inside a lab around 1:30 p.m. – about 50 students were evacuated from the building – three students who were in or near the lab were checked out by emergency crews but no one had to be transported to area hospitals)

AMMONIA Ammonia Leak at Ohio City Ice (at 9:14 a.m. a Hazardous Materials Team was dispatched to an ice plant – upon arrival responding units found an ongoing anhydrous leak coming from a compressor in the facility – all of the facility’s employees were evacuated prior to the fire departments arrival – no one required medical care as a result of this incident – no evacuations were necessary – Hazardous Materials Team made entry into the facility and operated valves to isolate and close the anhydrous ammonia tanks – residual anhydrous ammonia was ventilated from the building utilizing the buildings exhaust system)

FORKLIFT FATALITY Man Killed in Wallingford Forklift Accident (a forklift operator, 60, was killed after a forklift overturned, pinning him underneath around 2 p.m. – a person working at the location used a large excavator to move the forklift off the victim before medical personnel arrived – he was rushed to a Hospital, where he died of his injuries)

CONSTRUCTION

AMPUTATION in ROOF PULLEY SYSTEM Roanoke construction worker loses left arm in accident (fire-EMS crews were called to the roof of a Federal Building where a man lost part of his left arm – some emergency crews worked to free the construction worker, while others worked to free the amputated arm – workers had some sort of pulley system that was bringing construction materials from the ground level up to the roof and somehow his arm got entangled in the mechanism on top of the roof – paramedics were able to save the arm but unsure if it was able to be re-attached)

ELECTROCUTION Construction worker electrocuted (a construction worker, 30, was killed and three others sustained severe burns when they accidentally touched a high-tension wire – the injured are being treated at a private hospital – two are stated to be critical – the one worker was electrocuted when he touched the wire and the three others suffered burns in an attempt to rescue him)

FATAL FALL from BUCKET TRUCK Report: Worker hanging cable died after falling 18 feet to the ground (a worker, 29, died while he was hanging cable – he was suspended about 18 feet in the air in the bucket of the truck, working with a a steel cable that was attached to utility poles – the cable was stretched across the roadway – a pickup truck drove over the cable, and the cable hooked on the rear bumper, causing the cable to stretch tight before breaking free – worker was hit by the cable and thrown from the bucket of the truck, then fell to the ground)

FATAL FALL from ROOF Construction worker who fell to his death is identified (a construction worker, 40, died after he fell four stories – he somehow lost his footing and fell to the ground shortly before 3:00 p.m. – he was rushed to the hospital but later died)

WORKZONE FATALITY Walworth County worker killed in accident identified (worker, 66, worked for the County Department of Public Works for 19 years – he was working on a chip sealing project when he was struck by a 2007 Mack dump truck about 9:44 a.m. – the driver of the truck was backing up when the accident occurred – first responders initiated life-saving measures, but he was pronounced dead)

WORKZONE One killed, two injured in 10 Freeway crash in El Monte (the person killed when a minivan crashed into a Caltrans truck on the 10 Freeway was not a Caltrans worker, but the minivan’s driver – the 4 a.m. accident occurred on the westbound freeway when the minivan hit the truck, which was being used to pick up cones – two Caltrans contract workers in the truck suffered moderate injuries and were taken to a hospital)

FATAL FALL Contractor killed in toy factory tragedy (a construction worker has died after falling through a skylight while working on a toy factory roof – no other details)

FALL Three workers injured after falling 18 feet when Belmont roof collapses (a roof collapse at a construction site injured three workers when they fell at least 18 feet – all injuries were not considered life-threatening – the worst injury appeared to be a man who suffered a possible broken leg – workers had installed roof trusses for the new boat storage facility last week, and four or five construction workers were building the rest of the roof  when the trusses came down and took the end wall with it)

CRUSHING FATALITY by CONCRETE SLAB 34-year-old worker killed in concrete wall collapse (a worker died just before 3 p.m. after being crushed under a large piece of concrete – two workers were repairing a cistern in the basement of a home when a cement wall gave away, causing a large block of concrete to fall on one of the workers)

WORKZONE HEAVY EQUIPMENT FATALITY Construction worker crushed by machine (a piece of machinery fell and crushed a construction worker around 1:30 p.m. – a worker was operating a skid loader when he did not realize a co-worker was still standing on the side of the machine – the worker lowered the arms of the machine, pinning the other person between the arm of the skid loader and the frame – the injured was transported to a Hospital for his injuries and was pronounced dead at the hospital)

ELECTRICAL Construction worker electrocuted at new college site (a construction worker was hospitalized in critical condition after the worker was using a mechanical pump in an underground vault – he was shocked when he touched a piece of the pump – two other workers immediately ran out of the vault and dialed 911. – firemen arrived at the scene within three minutes of the call, and the injured worker did not have a pulse at the time – the fire crew resuscitated the worker using an automatic defibrillator and CPR)

MISCELLANEOUS

ROLLING TRUCK FATALITY Fatal accident in Christchurch (one worker was killed and another was seriously injured after a drainage truck rolled back onto the two men just after 3.20 p.m. – the men had been trapped by a truck – two drainage trucks were backed up to each other as they pumped drains when one of the trucks rolled back and trapped the men between the two trucks – one of the men died at the scene, and the other was taken to a Hospital in a serious condition)

CRUSHING Tiverton marina worker crushed by boat (a worker, 25, was airlifted to a Hospital after suffering a crushing injury –  he was working under a boat at the yard when a support gave way, crushing his chest – boat weighed an estimated 6,000 pounds – workers at the scene used a forklift to raise the boat –  he remains in critical condition)

FATAL EXPLOSION WA worker dead after gas explosion (a worker has been killed in a gas explosion – the worker was fixing hydraulic equipment with several others when a cylinder is believed to have exploded – the worker suffered severe injuries and was reported dead a short time later – there were no other reported injuries)

ELECTRICAL and BUCKET TRUCK Man nearly electrocuted in Windsor Township (a worker was nearly electrocuted during the transport of a large turbine to an Atomic Power Station – the wide load was traveling along with a worker in a bucket truck leading the pack – the worker, 49, was using a “push-up” stick to lift overhead wires so the load beneath could clear – around 11 a.m., the man was moving one of the lines and was severely shocked – a second employee was able to lower the bucket truck, freeing the man – though he had electrical burns on his body, the man’s injuries were not life-threatening and he was conscious when transported to a Hospital)

CHLORINE City worker resting after exposure to chlorine fumes (a Public Works Department employee was resting at home after he was exposed to chlorine fumes while performing maintenance at a city-owned pool – the pool had been closed for the maintenance work, and no children were endangered – he was replacing a screen in the chlorinator – the worker placed the old screen in a five-gallon bucket and went out of the building – the bucket also contained some chlorine slurry – when the worker returned to the building, he caught a whiff of the chlorine that came from the screen in the bucket – the foreman found the employee on the ground coughing and spitting and called 911 shortly after 1 p.m. – the employee was treated at the hospital and released – investigation showed the employee has been performing maintenance for 15 years and normally swishes the old screen in the pool but failed to do so this time – “It’s just a good reminder that when you’re working with that stuff you have to be cautious even if you do it every day,’’ he said.