38 incidents & 0 updates (4/5/15)

Over 12,500 exclusive unsafe acts/conditions and accident/injuries photos

and over 1,100 ppt’s & doc’s from more than 2,797 contributors!

UPDATED the Members Area Photo Library on 4/4/15 with 189 Shocker, Accident, and GRAPHIC Injury photos

2015 Fatality Tracker

INDUSTRIAL

Worker killed in accident at Marcus Hook Sonoco refinery (a contractor was killed in an industrial accident at a refinery around 2:15 p.m. – no further information has been released pending next of kin notification)

RAIL YARD FATALITY Police ID CSX worker struck, killed in rail yard accident (worker, 54, was struck and killed by a train just before 3 a.m. at a train yard – he was pronounced at the scene)

OSHA investigating accident that sent Ingalls worker to hospital (an injured employee in the shipyard was immediately transported to a hospital where he remains hospitalized and continues to receive treatment – no comment on the type of work the employee did at the time of the incident)

AMMO DEMO Worker injured at munitions facility in Greene Twp., Pa. (worker, 25, was injured at about 11:15 a.m. after he and other workers were destroying ammunition when a malfunction occurred and an employee was injured – not clear if the worker was hospitalized)

FATAL FALL into FURNACE Hyundai Steel worker dies from falls into furnace (a steel worker, 43, died after he fell into a molten metal distributor – he fell into the 1,500–2,000 degrees Celsius distributer from a 2.5 meter high tower – police are investigating the exact cause of the incident by examining closed-circuit television records at the facility – lack of a guardrail plus dispersed 1-3 millimeter steel balls, steel powder and scattered hoses and pipes at the site exposed workers to the risk of tripping over – since 2012, a total of 18 workers have lost their lives due to industrial accidents at the company)

FATAL EXPLOSION on OFF-SHORE PLATFORM Pemex platform fire kills four workers, injures 16 (a ball of flames engulfed an oil platform killing four people and sending terrified workers leaping into the sea – the blast also injured 16 workers, two seriously, and forced the evacuation of 300 – a total of 45 workers had received some form of treatment or health evaluation)

FALL Browns Ferry worker in stable condition after on-job injury (worker fell about five feet and received a minor amount of radiological contamination and cuts on his forehead – at the time of the accident, the worker was inspecting the dry well as part of a planned refueling outage for the Unit 2 reactor – he had radiological particles on his skin and clothes)

PIPELINE PIGGING FATALITIES Two killed, 3 hurt in GAIL’s LPG gas pipeline burst (two workers were killed and three others were reportedly injured by the impact of a sudden burst of an LPG pipe line – incident occurred when the repair and maintenance work was underway – employee of the company and a contract worker died – fatalities and injuries happened due to mechanical impact during normal pipeline pigging and cleaning operation – the bodies of the workers hit a nearby wall when the pipe suddenly burst open under high pressure)

FATAL BOILEREXPLOSION Plant explosion that killed 1 appears accidental (an explosion at a manufacturing plant killed a worker, 27, – a five- or six-foot-tall boiler that was 20 to 25 feet in diameter exploded while using titanium for production, injuring several other people and damaging the building – exact cause of the explosion and the reason for ignition remain under investigation)

HOTWORK Spoonemore welding fire (sparks from cutting or grinding metal ignited a fire at a business – a man had been cutting or grinding some metal when sparks set something on fire – he had noticed that he set some stuff on fire and put it out and didn’t get it completely out – he reportedly got distracted by a visitor and when he turned and looked, the fire was out of control)

FIRE Fire at ExxonMobil Beaumont chemical plant put out (a fire at the facility is out – everyone is accounted for and no one was hurt – fire started shortly after 12 a.m. when a vapor release from a propylene line caught fire – caused some of the workers from the plant to be moved to alternative locations)

FIRE Baton Rouge burn center: 2 burned in fire at Geismar biodiesel refinery to be home for Easter (two men, 39 and 57, burned in a fire at a biodiesel refinery are getting home for Easter – the fire started after a hydraulic pump seal failed – the fire took a few hours to contain and five hours to extinguish)

LOTO/GUARDING AMPUTATION Elgin man loses arm after accident at Bartlett pasta plant (worker, 25, had to have his left arm amputated after it was caught in an industrial mixing machine at a pasta manufacturing plant – the man whose arm was caught in the machine up to his elbow was conscious and responsive when fire personnel arrived around 3 p.m. – first responders worked along with staff members at the plant for 45 minutes to take apart the machine that the man’s arm was trapped in)

AMMONIA Fire crews contain ammonia spill at Port of Timaru (firefighters isolated an ammonia leak at a cold stores – Fire Service was alerted to the leak when employees at Chevron, whose premises are also at the port, smelt what they thought to be chlorine – Chevron premises was evacuated – it took 16 firefighters up to two hours to clean up the ammonia – no injuries – could not confirm what had caused the spill)

AMMONIA Elevated chlorine levels at Trenton water treatment plant prompt emergency response (elevated chlorine levels inside a room of a Water Treatment plant prompted a response from a hazardous response team around 6:15 a.m. after sensors inside the treatment plant detected a chlorine leak – HAZMAT team checked the area for a leak, but could not find one – plant was shut down for a short time and employees were evacuated while water from the reservoir was used as crews investigated – operation of the plant was returned to employees around 7:30 a.m.)

FORKLIFT FATALITY UPDATE: Man’s name released from Walmart accident (worker, 25, died in an accident at 9:30 a.m. when he fell out of a forklift and suffered a fractured skull and jaw – it’s unclear if he had some sort of medical issue and that an autopsy will be conducted that would hopefully provide more answers – he had been employed at the distribution center for only two weeks)

CONSTRUCTION

EXCAVATOR FATALITY 1 dead in excavator accident at Colonna’s Shipyard (first responders were called to the industrial accident around 1:20 p.m., – rescue crews found a worker, 58, in an excavator and pronounced him deceased – a concrete piling had gone through the cab of an excavator – he was operating the excavator before concrete crushed the vehicle’s cab – cause of the accident remains unclear – no one else was injured)

Walmart Distribution Center employee dies after accident (employee has died at a Distribution Center – no word on what happened)

WORKZONE Car runs over utility worker in Lexington (a car ran over a utility worker while he was working in a hole in a road – utility worker was taken to the hospital but firefighters say, he wasn’t seriously injured – accident happened around 8:45 a.m. after the driver backed out of their driveway and her tire dipped into a hole – they didn’t see the man working in the hole because he was hunched over with his head down – they had safety cones set up on the road, police say that the driver isn’t facing charges because it was an accident)

FATAL COLLAPSE One construction worker killed, three others injured in structure collapse at Argyle High School (one construction worker was killed and three others were injured when an activity building that was under construction collapsed about 7:45 a.m.- two of the injured people were taken to a hospital for treatment)

TRUCK UNLOADING Dominion confirms worker injured at Cove Point (a contract employee was injured during unloading operations – contractor employee was transported by ambulance and then by helicopter to a hospital – employee was injured during unloading operations for two rebar cages for the liquefaction facility – no word on the current condition of the worker or the nature of his injuries at this time)

CRANE Worker injured when crane tips onto Dallas Museum of Art (a crane truck tipped over about 9:30 a.m. onto the museum’s roof – accident happened on the museum’s south lawn, where a tent was being set up for the Art Ball on April 11 – crane operator was taken to a Medical Center, but his injuries were not believed to be serious)

GRADER STRUCK by TRAIN Worker injured in train accident near Gretna (employee is in serious condition after the road grader he was working on was struck by a train – he has been with the county for 14 years – he was grading the gravel road when the crash occurred – train was headed west bound when it struck the motor grader around 10:45 a.m. – worker was airlifted from the scene in critical condition – there are no emergency crossing arms or lights at the crossing, instead, stop signs are used to control traffic)

FATAL FALL from WINDOW Construction worker dies after fall from 6th floor (construction worker was killed when he fell from a sixth floor window – the worker, who was believed to be in his 60s, fell to his death just before 11:30 a.m. and landed within the work site)

CRANE Construction worker injured by beam at Rothschild site (worker, 53, was injured when a beam pinned his leg at a construction – he was taken by ambulance to a Hospital)

FALL from LADDER DOT worker injured in fall into canal (DOT worker was injured in a fall from a ladder – he was taken to an area hospital – accident occurred around 2 p.m.)

FATAL FALL Construction worker plummets to death at Brighton Beach site (construction worker, 50, fell several stories to his death – medical examiners declared him dead at the scene – he fell four stories just after 11 a.m.)

Cairo airport worker dies after accident on airstrip (worker at the International Airport was killed after being hit by a car driving in reverse on an airstrip – worker was pronounced dead by the responding medical team en route to the hospital)

FATAL SCAFFOLDING COLLAPSE Two dead after construction accident near High Park (two men died after getting trapped in a scaffolding collapse just after 11 a.m. at a condo development)

FATAL FALL Worker killed in fall at site (construction worker, 41, died when he fell from about four stories up – no word on cause)

TRENCH Worker rescued after hours in trench in Butler County (worker was trapped up to his waist in dirt nearly 10 feet down, surrounded by trench walls that partially collapsed – there was a box in the trench, but he was trapped actually below it – nearly 2 1/2 hours after the collapse, the victim was lifted out of the trench – helicopter then took him to a trauma hospital for treatment of his injuries)

FATAL FALL Fall kills construction worker (construction worker, 45, was killed after accidentally falling from the fourth floor of a building he was working on – emergency medical workers responded but he had already died)

CONFINED SPACE FATALITIES – OXYGEN DEFICIENCY Four workers killed in NW China culvert accident (four manual laborers have died after being asphyxiated in a culvert – seven workers were repairing pipelines in the culvert when there was a sudden loss of oxygen in the narrow passage – one worker managed to get out and alerted police – the remaining six were all pulled out by 5:10 p.m., but four died in hospital – the other two are in stable conditions)

WORKZONE FATALITY 3 utility workers struck, killed by car identified (three utility workers were killed after being hit by a vehicle – driver, 20, was driving south when a car pulled into her path – her car struck the rear of that vehicle and then went off the west shoulder of the road striking the three men – all three of the men died at the scene)

SCAFFOLDING Scaffolding collapses at Vikings stadium site in Minneapolis (authorities say high winds caused scaffolding to collapse on the edge of the stadium site and fall onto a downtown street – there wasn’t any traffic in the area at the time, and no one was on the scaffolding went it blew over – the roof of a trailer was damaged, but no injuries were reported)

FATAL FALL from FORKLIFT 41-Year-Old S.A. Man Falls To His Death At Creekside (worker, 41, fell to his death following a construction accident at about 11:30 am – worker was unresponsive to emergency services, and was transported to a Hospital – preliminary investigation reveals that the victim had been standing on a platform on the end of a large, multi-story forklift, unloading several five-gallon buckets of paint onto the fourth floor of the building when the platform became unstable and he fell from a height of about 36-feet)

MISCELLANEOUS

FLYING TABLE TOP FATALITY Miami Beach maintenance worker killed by flying tabletop (maintenance worker was killed in what police called an unfortunate accident caused by bad weather – he was working at the parking garage entrance when he was hit by a glass tabletop – police believe the tabletop was detached and went airborne due to strong winds – he was working on the gate and there was a table up on the ninth floor; the tabletop got loose and flew and unfortunately struck him)

FALL from TREE A worker fell more than 40 feet from a tree in the backyard of a Fairfield home (tree worker was conscious and responsive after a problem with his climbing spikes caused him to fall more than 40 feet to the ground just after noon – he did not have life-threatening injuries in the 12:20 p.m. fall)

Stop by session 721 on

Wednesday 6/10 @ 7:45 a.m.

Process Safety Management

Enforcement Trends and Best Practices

I am also teaching my 1-Day PSM Course as a ASSE POST Conference Seminar on Friday 6/10

What’s New @ SAFTENG.net

2015 Photo of the Week #14 (Ladder Irony)

EPA RMP citations @ food facility (SO2; $7K – Special NOTE: MOC on Staffing)

EPA is getting in the game of issuing citations for NOT doing an MOC on “staffing changes”!

OSHA PSM citations @ aluminum foundry (CL2 & $160K)

2015 Video of the Week #14 (Forklift, Ladder, Falls)

(UPDATE) OSHA issues PSM citations to refrigerated food warehouse (NH3, $251,330)

User Safety Notice – MSA FireHawk® M7XT Air Mask