34 Incidents & 1 Update (3/7/12)

2012 Fatality Tracker

INDUSTRIAL

FATALITY Worker Dies In Accident At Umatilla Plant (a worker, 31, died in an accident around 10:20 p.m. at the manufacturing plant – a pipe hit him in the head, killing him – he had worked for the company 10 years and was a maintenance worker)

SMOKING and FLAMMABLES Paterson worker suffers serious burns in accident (an employee, 43, was burned after he caught fire while smoking around flammable material – the man either had unknowingly come into contact with flammable material or was near a flammable vapor when the accident occurred just after 10:30 a.m. at the business – when firefighters arrived, the man was wrapped in a blanket or tarp after workers apparently extinguished the fire – he had second- and third-degree burns on his right arm and face – he was taken to a  Medical Center with serious injuries)

LOTO FATALITY Worker Dies In Plant Accident ( a worker, 48, has died after he got caught in a machine at an asphalt plant – he died at the hospital after firefighters rescued him from a concrete auger at the asphalt plant around 11 a.m. – he was doing maintenance on the machine when he got caught in it)

MINE FLOOD 9 missing after northwest Colombia mining accident (nine people were reported trapped after the mine the victims were working in flooded – the accident occurred around 3:30PM – rescue workers were sent to the site of the allegedly illegal mine)

FLASH FIRE while maintenance work on a FLARE SYSTEM 3 workers hurt in refinery fire (an accident at an oil refinery critically injured three contractors – while the employees were working outside on a unit, a flash fire erupted – one victim suffered burns over 90 percent of his body, a second between 60 and 70 percent and the third about 30 percent – it’s uncertain what caused the vapors to ignite, but the blaze was extinguished before firefighters arrived on the scene – they were doing maintenance on a flare)

BURNS Workers burned in Syncrude fire (a fire broke out at a primary upgrader, injuring two men around 9:30 p.m. – the two workers were sprayed by hot bitumen and they received minor burns after opening a valve connected to a coker – the fire was extinguished at 3 a.m. – refinery explained the task was a routine procedure)

CONFINED SPACE FATALITIES – FLASH FIRE Tanker fire: Four battling for life Afkar Abdullah (four of the five workers who were admitted to a Hospital here after they suffered burns while cleaning a tanker ship anchored at a Port are still battling for life while the other worker is out of danger – three of their colleagues died after inhaling toxic fumes – in total, 12 workers were involved in cleaning work on the vessel anchored at the Port – all workers of the ship maintenance company involved in cleaning the ship were found – workers were caught in the midst of a fire that started when one of the workers tried to operate a maintenance machine – sparks fell in some flammable material that led to the sudden fire – the four workers have 90 per cent burns and they have been put on the life support system)

FLASH FIRE @ PYROTECHNICS PLANT Flashover fire likely injured 3 workers (officials with a fireworks company ay a flash fire apparently injured three workers, one of them seriously – the three workers were assembling fireworks when the fire occurred – raw materials used to manufacture a component of one of the products ignited, causing a “flash-over” fire that workers were able to quickly extinguish – one of three injured men suffered severe burns – he was being treated at a burn unit – two other employees were treated and released from a Hospital)

FIRE Workers extinguish fire at Burns Lake sawmill (employees at a Mill successfully battled a small fire – emergency crews were called to the scene but by the time they arrived mill employees had beaten down the blaze – one employee was treated at the scene by paramedics for smoke inhalation – no further injuries have been reported and the fire was not deemed suspicious)

FLASH FIRE while WELDING Pair of flash explosions reported at East Akron chemical complex; no one hurt (workers were welding about 1 p.m. around a tank that once contained a form of methylstyrene when there were two “flash explosions” – the explosions sent workers scurrying for safety and scores of firefighters rushing to the scene – no one was hurt – residents were not evacuated – firefighters poured water onto the empty tank where the explosion originated)

ELECTRICAL EXPLOSIONS Fire department describes how they fought explosion and fire under Downtown streets (Fire Department joined electrical workers to fight a fire that led to an explosion that blew manhole covers out of their holes and sent nasty smoke drifting up Main Street, closing the intersection for hours – fire Companies were met by Energy company representatives to develop a plan and isolate the area were the electrical fire occurred – Fire Department assisted in air monitoring, isolation of the area, and providing back-up confined-space rescue teams – damage and cause are still unknown, and an investigation is being performed)

HOTWORK Fire Destroys T&J Hopper Building Supplies Structure (a welding spark that ignited dust caused a fire that destroyed the building – the employees were doing some cutting and welding on a metal hopper inside – the sparks seemed to have caused the fire – welding and grinding on steel created sparks that ignited dust in the building – the building was a complete loss)

HF ACID LEAK Recent leak at Corpus Christi refinery studied as part of ongoing probe of 2009 incident (a team from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board is investigating a chemical leak at a Refinery as it continues to study a 2009 leak and fire at the same unit – an apparent leak in a flange — where two spools of pipe are fastened together — in the plant’s alkylation unit released propane, butane, pentane and hydrofluoric acid – the leak triggered the plant’s automatic water cannons, which spouted a curtain of water to contain the leak – the final calculations of how much chemical was released are not available)

START-UP FIRE Small fire breaks out at SF Bay Tesoro refinery (a small fire broke out in insulation on a unit shortly after midnight and was quickly extinguished with no injuries – the refinery was restarting a hydrogen plant)

LOTO/GUARDING Man injured at chicken plant in Orland (a man, 57, was injured when he got caught in a machine at poultry plant -he is listed in critical condition after his arm, neck and back were injured in a machine at the factory – employees reportedly removed him from the machine, laid him on the floor and were trying to keep him stable until medics arrived – helicopter landed in a field near the plant and airlifted him to a hospital – the line the worker worked on was shut down for a couple of hours, according to the director of human resources – the machine he was caught in was determined to be safe and was back in operation on the next day – this is the second major accident at the poultry processing plant in six months – worker, 25, was killed Sept. 1, 2011 – he suffered blunt force trauma to his head and died immediately in the feather removal and chilling section of the factory)

AMMONIA Ammonia spill at Co-Op gushes for hours (a hazardous material team responded to a Co-Op after an apparent valve malfunction caused three tanks of ammonia to begin leaking around 10 a.m. – the supply tanks gushed the chemical for several hours, but the Hazmat team was able to get the leak under control by 2:30 p.m. – by the time responders got the leak under control, the three tanks had spilled roughly 70 to 80 percent of their 28,000 gallons onto the grain elevator plant’s property – the leak caused no injuries or fires – there are no farm houses nearby and the vapor cloud created by the ammonia dissipated quickly because of strong winds)

Fatal Accident At ThyssenKrupp Steel Plant (a worker died after an accident while working on the Melt Shop – company has suspended all construction activity at the site through tomorrow – this is the second death at the plant in recent months – in November, a crane operator was killed when he was caught between two stainless steel coils)

CONSTRUCTION

ELECTRICAL Work accident leaves contractor with life threatening burns (a worker was left with life-threatening burns after being struck with a high voltage cable  – when using a hydraulic breaker to create an inspection pit for a borehole the worker, hit a high voltage electric cable- he was left with 60 per cent burns)

FATAL FALL Alaska worker dies after 17-foot fall at work site (a worker, 47, has died after falling 17 feet from a platform at a construction site for a new power plant – he was a foreman and a member of Local 375 Plumbers and Steamfitters Union of Fairbanks)

WORKZONE Gas worker hurt in Ozark accident (a worker, 48, was listed in fair condition after he was struck by a vehicle while working – a 2000 Pontiac van struck the gas district’s 2005 Ford pickup truck, which then struck the rear of a trailer that was attached to the gas district’s 2011 International truck – he was working on the roadway when one of the vehicles involved in the collision caused him to fall and strike his head on the pavement around 2 p.m.  – he was transported to a Medical Center here authorities said he was initially listed in serious condition with head injuries)

EXCAVATOR Worker has legs broken by 22-tonne excavator (a construction worker, 58, had both legs broken when a 22-tonne excavator reversed over him – he suffered severe crush injuries when the excavator backed into him as he erected boundary fencing – as the injured worker was fixing a fencing panel, the excavator drove past him toward the site entrance – he then heard the excavator reversing back down the driveway – as he was wearing a high-visibility vest and the excavator driver had passed him only moments before, the man believed he was in no danger)

TRUCK FATALITY Man killed in Visalia construction accident (a vehicle crash on a construction site left one man dead – shortly after 11 a.m., a construction worker driving a Ford F-150 pickup was driving along the south end the site and ran into the side of a “paddle scraper,” a large construction vehicle – the driver of the pickup died at the scene, while a construction worker on the paddle scraper — which wasn’t moving — reported no injuries)

CRANE into POWERLINES Two Men Almost Electrocuted When Crane Hits Electric Cable (two men almost got killed from electrocution when a crane driven by one of them hit a high-voltage tension cable – in the 6.30pm incident, the crane which was at a construction site below the power cable was moving stones when it accidently hit the cable which snapped and there was a loud explosion – witnesses heard a loud explosion and several rushed to the scene where they saw a man lying on the ground near the fence and another unconscious in the crane – they called for help and the crane driver later regained consciousness but was in a daze to say anything while the other man was also shaken from the electric shock – te two were sent to a Hospital for treatment)

HOTWORK Welder sparks city blaze (a fire is believed to have been sparked by welding – at least 30 firefighters rushed to the Building, which is under renovation, after numerous callers reported seeing flames and smoke at the construction site – workmen on the seventh floor of the 10-storey building were believed to have sparked the blaze – sparks from the brass oxy welding got into ducts that contained conduits and electrical wiring – the damage to the building was not expected to be extensive)

FIRE Gas leak causes fire at Gundersen Lutheran construction site (a gas leak and fire at a construction site causes damage and a minor injury to one firefighter – a security guard called 911 at around 11:15 p.m. when they saw sparks coming from a building – the sparks were caused by leaking gas from a heater being used to dry freshly-poured concrete at the site – with gas leaking, the heater acted like a blow-torch)

CRANE Lift truck gets stuck in building (a spectacular accident around 8 o’clock at a condo renovation project happened while a small bobcat loader was being lowered from a 10 story building – as the crane was bringing down the lift truck to the seventh floor, it suffered some sort of mechanical failure and rolled off the crane platform and got wedged in an open window frame on the eighth floor – traffic was detoured for several hours while the operator was rescued (HE WAS IN THE BOBCAT WHILE IT WAS BEING LOWERED 3 floors by a CRANE!!!) and brought safely to solid ground, while the bobcat was eventually unhitched from the wall – no one was injured – SEE PHOTO @ LINK)

UPDATE on CRANE FATALITIES Wrong manual used in crane collapse (a crane which collapsed killing two people was loaded with four extra tonnes of weight because the owners used the wrong manual – citizen, 23, was cleaning his car when the crane crushed him and destroyed a balcony in a nearby block of flats – operator, 37, was thrown from the 165ft crane’s cabin as it toppled over backwards because of the extra weight – both men died at the scene although it took four days to remove the citizen’s body from under the wreckage – according to the correct manual, the machine should have had eight tons of concrete balancing its load – however, the contractor used a manual for a different model of crane which needed 12.2 tons causing it to over-balance)

MIscellaneouS

ELECTROCUTION w/ BUCKET TRUCK Lake View man dies in work accident (a worker and owner, 63, died from injuries suffered in a work accident Monday near Nemaha in Sac County – he was leaning on a boom truck while a co-worker was in the bucket of the boom truck cutting tree branches – the arm of the 50 foot boom came into contact with an overhead power line – electricity ran through the truck and the worker – he was transported to a Hospital where he died from his injuries)

HOV lane reopens after accident involving DART worker (an accident involving a DART worker shut down an HOV lane – the worker was opening the HOV ramp bout 5:30 a.m. when he was struck by his vehicle – his [own] vehicle rolled and hit him – the man suffered a broken leg and was taken to a Medical Center)

STAGE COLLAPSE FATALITY Worker Dies in Pausini Concert Stage Collapse (one worker, 32, died and two others injured – the three men were erecting the structure for a concert – the two injured suffered minor injuries while they were erecting one of the stage structures – the metal structure over the stage slipped and collapsed, crashing forward onto a tier of seating – the men were securing the aerial lighting at the time and the structure fell squarely onto the deceased, killing him instantly)

HOTWORK DOT fire damages home, land (a residence sustained extensive damage when a wind-driven grass fire started as a torch-wielding Department of Transportation crew sealed cracks on the shoulder of a U.S. Highway – the fire, first reported at about 3 p.m., finally was brought under control about 2 a.m.)