53 incidents & 0 updates (7/20/15)

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2015 Fatality Tracker

INDUSTRIAL

GARBAGE TRUCK Identity Released Of Metro Worker Crushed, Killed By Garbage Truck (Public Works employee, 19, has died after being crushed by a garbage truck around 11 p.m. when sanitation crews were on their overnight shift – he was standing on the back of the truck with his co-worker, 57 – driver of the truck backed into an alley and he was pinned between the truck and wall before falling under the rear passenger tires – he died at the scene)

CONVEYOR Worker seriously injured in industrial accident at Cargill plant in Talbotville (worker, 46, was airlifted to hospital with life-threatening injuries after an industrial accident at a grain elevator just before 2:30 p.m. – his arm was caught in a conveyor belt system – he was freed by emergency crews after about an hour and a half – he was trapped in a confined area where it was difficult for emergency crews to work)

LINEMAN ELECTRICAL Southern Illinois utility worker critically injured (a lineman, 51, was critically injured when he came in contact with a high-voltage power line – he was in the bucket of a service truck making repairs to a line when he came into contact with a 7,200-volt primary transmission line – several other linemen were with him when the accident happened and helped bring him down so an ambulance crew could provide assistance – he was airlifted from the scene and taken to the burn unit and is listed in critical, but stable condition – he is an 18-year veteran lineman – UPDATE, both his hands have been amputated)

FATAL EXPLOSION 1 worker killed, another wounded in factory explosion in western Turkey (a worker at a fertilizer factory was killed and another employee wounded in an explosion – powerful blast that was heard in a 15-kilometer radius took place in an area of the fertilizer factory with steam boilers causing a stairway and elevator system to collapse – worker was found dead after a four-hour search – he had become trapped in the rubble produced by the blast – another worker sustained a head injury during the accident – initial findings show the blast reportedly took place due to gas being trapped in the steam boiler, which led the stairway and elevator system in the factory to collapse – worker was reportedly killed after falling from the third floor during the explosion and being trapped in the rubble)

PIPELINE EXCAVATION EXPLOSION 2 workers hurt in explosion when backhoe strikes gas line (two workers are hospitalized after a backhoe struck a high pressure gas line and caused an explosion at a compression station – the contract worker operated a bulldozer when he struck the pipeline – the fire spread to the bulldozer with the operator still inside – fire department extinguished the fire in roughly 30 minutes – backhoe driver was airlifted to a hospital for treatment of burns sustained when the vehicle caught fire – the other worker was taken to a local hospital with minor burns)

FATAL FALL Drummond workplace accident kills man (worker died in a fatal fall workplace accident – his tar truck fell ten metres into a gravel pit and he died from his injuries)

LOCKOUT California worker alive after rescue from meat grinder (worker was trying to dislodge a piece of meat that appeared to be caught in a hopper at a grocer – his sleeve was being pulled into the machine when a co-worker heard his screams and shut off the grinder – fire official says the man was a second away from suffering potentially fatal injuries)

CONFINED SPACE Contractor’s leg crushed in Port Kembla BlueScope accident (contractor has been pulled from a pit with a broken leg after an accident at a cokemaking plant about 10.55pm – he had serious injuries to his left leg – he was working in the pit when his leg was crushed under a heavy piece of steel and was taken to a Hospital in a serious condition)

400-Pound Pallet Falls, Injures Worker (a pallet weighing around 400 pounds fell over, striking a male worker – employee had been moved from under the pallet, and was conscious and alert by the time crews arrived on the scene – he complained of neck, shoulder and arm pain, and was transported to a Medical Center for evaluation)

FORKLIFT Worker hurt at Holland packaging company (worker, 21, was hit by a forklift and pinned between paper products and a bench – she was freed and then airlifted to a hospital with “significant injuries to her lower extremities”)

FATAL FALL Oil worker dies in fall from pumping unit (worker, 29, died after falling some 25 feet from the top of an oil pump jack he was working on at about 10:30 a.m. – when crews arrived the victim was in cardiac arrest and someone on scene was performing CPR via instructions from a fire department dispatcher – he died at the scene – he was wearing a safety harness, but it appeared he was not tethered in – couldn’t say whether the victim was perched on top of the pumping unit or was using a “man-lift” or some other lifting device)

ELECTRICAL Falls worker electrocuted while operating remote control (worker, 43, was injured after he was shocked while operating a handheld remote with exposed, frayed wires – worker was conscious and alert after he was shocked – he was airlifted to a Hospital as a precaution for non-life threatening injuries – preliminary investigation revealed the worker was operating a hand-held remote control with exposed, frayed wires – while operating the remote control the worker came in contact with the exposed wires and was shocked)

FORKLIFT FATALITY West Dundee man killed by forklift in Elk Grove (forklift accident took the life of a worker, 22 – he received multiple blunt force injuries from a forklift at about 2:47 p.m.)

FLASH FIRE Flash fire at Alabama Farmers Cooperative in Decatur sends worker to hospital burn unit (a flash fire at a Farmers Cooperative has sent one man to a burn unit – the fire broke out around 9:15 p.m. in the cooperative’s feed mill, where outside contractors have been working on ongoing renovations – cause of the fire was not immediately known – employee sustained burns to his body and was taken to a Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition)

FATAL EXPLOSION (DUST???) Bosley explosion: Four missing in Wood Flour Mills blast (three men and a woman are trapped and four people have been taken to hospital after three explosions at a wood treatment works – a four-storey building collapsed with large fires breaking out – 35 people on the premises were assessed at the scene with four people treated for breathing difficulties and another four people taken to hospitals  – building contains heating oil, kerosene, acetylene and asbestos and there is also a silo containing highly flammable wood flour used for making wood laminate flooring)

CRUSHED by MARBLE SLABS Worker crushed by 2,000 pounds of marble slab (worker, 37, is dead after the marble slabs he was unloading off a truck fell onto him – he was unloading several slabs of granite off of a pick-up truck when he lost his footing and fell off the truck – two slabs of marble then fell on top of him – marble weighed an estimated 2,000 pounds)

CONFINED SPACE 4 taken to hospital after worker is overcome by solvent fumes, official says (incident began about 2:10 p.m. as a confined-space rescue of a worker – Fire Department rescued the male employee from a pit described as about 10 to 12 feet deep – worker had been overcome by fumes and was unresponsive when firefighters arrived – chemicals being used as part of a cleaning process in the pit were acetone and toluene, both solvents – worker who was rescued was taken to a Hospital and admitted – three other employees were also taken there for evaluation – no responders were injured, although anyone who came in contact with the pit or the chemicals had to undergo decontamination that included hosing off their protective suits – about eight responders underwent decontamination)

HOTWORK (PLASMA) FIRE Two boats destroyed in fire at Apex Marine in St. Louis (pair of boats were engulfed in flames resulting in a total loss of both vehicles – Fire Department were called to the scene at 3:40 p.m. in response to the accidental ignition of molten metal, while a worker was repairing a trailer connected to the boats – employee was using plasma cutting, involving a flame, to repair a part of the trailer – he left his work for a matter of minutes and returned to find molten metal had began burning onboard one of the boats – both boats were completely engulfed in flames, along with the trailer – the loss will total in about $45,000 in damages – “It was an accident,” he said. “This has never happened before and it will probably be another hundred years before it happens again.”)

EXPLOSION Five hurt in explosion at Washington state aerospace plant (five people were injured in an explosion at an aerospace plant shortly before 9 p.m. – two of the five victims had been airlifted to a hospital – their conditions were not immediately known – there was damage inside a building but no fire)

REFINERY EXPLOSION may be TERRORISM French police investigate chemical plant explosions (incident occurred near a military base where grenades and explosives were stolen last week – an electronic device was found near the site of the explosion of two petrochemical tanks – the nighttime explosions at the refinery caused a fire which burned for hours, and a black cloud of smoke which could be seen for miles – no injuries were reported – Police sources said the device, which may have started the fires in two large tanks, one filled with oil, the other with the petroleum distillate naphtha, is under investigation – the two tanks are over a quarter-mile apart)

AMMONIA Meat plant has second ammonia leak in two weeks (ammonia leak was the second in two weeks for the meat processing plant and the cause is yet unknown – around 30 firefighters attended the leak at 10.15 a.m. – leak was believed to have started in the engine plant room but fire crews, assisted by engineers, isolated the leak and ventilated the site – June 30, the whole plant had to be evacuated at 5 a.m. due to an ammonia leak)

FORKLIFT Sheriff identifies two injured in oilfield accident (two men have been injured in an oilfield accident when they were struck by a pipe at approximately 9:32 a.m. – the pipe struck both men on their heads and one was medi-flighted from the scene, while the other was medi-flighted from a hospital – two witnesses of the accident stated a forklift was being used to lift the 40-foot long pipe – pipe was strapped to the forklift – workers instructed the forklift operator to lower the pipe to the ground and move it forward, but the strap slipped off and the pipe fell, striking the two men)

AMMONIA FATALITY Gas leak in Jessore fish processing unit kills one (worker, 45, died and another became badly sick after inhaling leaked Ammonia gas at a fish processing factory around 9am – a Fire Service and Civil Defense got admitted to a hospital with severe respiratory problem – Managing Director said his unit’s workers including the deceased entered the ammonia gas plant room to observe the situation – at one stage, gas from the plant started leaking leaving the worker dead instantly while the rest left the spot promptly sensing the possible danger – FF became sick after inhaling leaked gas – Fire Service and Civil Defense Assistant Director said opening the compressor nut and bolt led the leakage of the liquid ammonia)

FORKLIFT FATALITY – DRIVE AWAY Forklift driver killed in work accident overnight (worker, 19, died in a forklift accident at 1:25 a.m. – he was pronounced dead at 2:08 a.m. – he was using the forklift to load appliances onto a truck – at some point, the truck driver thought the truck was fully loaded and began to drive away, causing the forklift to fall backwards – driver fell back and hit his head on the door plate of the loading dock)

CONSTRUCTION

CRANE Worker critically injured in Logan Airport construction accident (an ironworker, 53, was critically injured when he fell 40 feet onto a piece of precast concrete that had also fallen at the central parking garage – he was taken to a Hospital with life-threatening injuries – the 32-ton piece of concrete fell while it was being hoisted by a crane to the third level of the garage construction – the worker, who had been trying to secure the panel, then fell)

EXCAVATOR FATALITY Construction worker killed in excavator accident at Delta College (construction worker, 40, was killed in excavator accident – worker was dumping stone into a ditch when the excavator he was operating slid into the ditch – the excavator slid into the ditch striking a fellow construction worker, fatally injuring him – the man in the ditch was re-arranging gravel dumped in by the excavator)

FATALITY from FALLING MATERIALS Maggie Valley mayor killed on construction site (the accident happened around 12:30 p.m. and he died of blunt force trauma after heavy building materials fell from the roof above him)

FATAL FALL Worker killed in fall at Vicksburg grain elevator company (worker was killed in a fall at a grain elevator company -deputies and firefighters found the man after responding at 9:46 a.m. to a report that a person had fallen two stories – he was pronounced dead at the scene – he fell 25 to 30 feet in an area of the business that is currently under construction – wasn’t immediately known what caused the man to fall, but it appears he was walking from an area that is being enclosed to another area of the business when he fell)

FATAL FALL Officials ID Construction Worker Killed In Fall (construction worker, 69, died after falling from the roof of a work site – he died of multiple blunt force injuries about a half hour after falling 30 feet onto a concrete slab)

WORKZONE FATALITY Highway Worker, 50, Killed in Lincoln Co. Crash ID’ed (a highway worker holding a stop sign, 50, was stuck and killed around 2:30 p.m. – he had been with the County Highway Department for 20 years)

WORKZONE Worker injured in Carmel construction zone accident (a speeding driver lost control of his car and hit a truck driver who had been delivering beams to the overpass – worker had been began walking to pick up another truck when he got hit – driver of the car involved in the overnight wreck got hurt when his car flipped several times – worker sustained serious leg injuries – both the driver and the victim were taken to the hospital and both are expected to survive)

FATAL FALL Tugboat strikes Eads Bridge; man killed (a tugboat hit the bridge resulting in a bridge worker’s death – worker who died was sandblasting part of the bridge when the vessel struck the bridge – victim then fell from his position and was killed)

FALL into EXCAVATION Emergency workers rush to scene of construction accident (worker had fallen into a hole that while the excavation site was about 20 feet deep, rescuers learned the worker, a man in his 30s, was inside the hole when he fell about 5 feet onto some rebar – he was briefly unconscious, but was conscious and breathing when paramedics reached him – a crane was used to lift the man, on a litter, out of the hole and transported to the hospital in fair condition, complaining of leg and back pain)

PORCH COLLAPSE Workers injured in New Bedford porch collapse (three workers were injured when they fell 25 feet while repairing a third-floor porch at about 10:50 a.m. – two of the workers, 39 and 42, were taken to a Hospital with trauma-related injuries – they were treated and released – workers were on the third-floor porch and were planning to remove it to install two windows when the accident happened – they cut a vertical post that was connected to roof, and the third-floor porch gave way, crashing down to the second-floor porch, which also gave way and collapsed on the first-floor porch)

FALL from LADDER Worker injured after falling off ladder near South Keys shopping centre (worker, in his early 40s, was taken to hospital in serious but stable condition after falling off a ladder – he suffered serious head injuries after falling from a ladder at around 12:40 p.m. – he had fallen three metres from a ladder while renovating a commercial building)

AERIAL LIFT ELECTROCUTION Worker electrocuted in Richmond Hill (worker, 39, was electrocuted and was pronounced dead in hospital following the incident at a commercial building at about 4:20 p.m. – two men were on a scissor lift, when the equipment came in contact with a live wire – victim was rushed to a hospital without vital signs and was pronounced dead – it is not known if the other worker suffered any injuries)

SCAFFOLDING COLLAPSE Two workers rescued in scaffolding collapse at Duval County Jail (firefighters rescued two workers that were dangling from the County Jail after a scaffolding collapse – workers were doing building restoration and cleaning at the jail for months – three workers were on the side of the building when the scaffolding fell and two workers were left dangling on the side of the building)

FATAL FALL from SCAFFOLDING Scaffolding collapse kills another Vietnamese worker at Taiwanese mill (worker, 21, died after falling from the scaffolding being built at a steel mill – he plunged from the 15-meter-high scaffolding – he was rushed to a local hospital but he succumbed to severe injuries)

TRENCH Man dies in construction accident (worker, 30, died after a trench collapsed on him at a construction site – it took one and a half hours for emergency services to dig up the body)

HOTWORK Welding work sparks fire at Michigan League building (welding work sparked a fire at a building on the campus – no injuries were reported in the fire, which started around 2:30 p.m. – fire started on the third floor of the building as contractors did copper welding work – building was evacuated)

TRENCHING Sidewalk collapses onto construction worker (a 4-foot by 6-foot section of sidewalk collapsed into a trench injuring a construction worker – crews were trenching next to the sidewalk to install utilities when the accident happened about 1:40 p.m. – the worker’s injuries were to the man’s lower leg and were not life-threatening)

MISCELLANEOUS

FARM FATALITY Young worker killed in farming accident at Ravensthorpe in WA’s south (worker, 19, has been killed in an accident on a farm when he was crushed by a rock picker – he died at the scene before he could be freed – he was working alone in a paddock during the day and was found by fellow workers when he did not return after dark)

CAR WASH FATALITY DA: Worker, 28, killed in accident at Malden car wash (a vehicle pulling out of a bay at a car wash struck and killed an employee, 28, working on another vehicle outside)

FATAL FALL from ZIPLINE PLATFORM Utah zip line worker plummets 150 feet to his death in accident on second day on the job (just his second day on the job at a zipline worker, 54, plummeted 150 feet to his death on the desert floor – he tried to brace a rider and got carried off the edge of the landing platform at the end of the 2,500-foot-long Zipline – rider came surging into the finish and bounced back from the platform – worker apparently decided to try to hold on to the rider and went careening over the edge of the cliff with only the rider to hold onto – moments later, he lost his grip, slipped away and fell into the desert)

FATAL MOWER Worker Killed in Apparent Lawn Mower Accident (lawn maintenance worker, 40, was mowing the grass on a large riding mower next to a pond when it appears the mower overturned – he was trapped under it in approximately 4 feet of water – coworkers had not seen him for approximately an hour when he was found in the pond)

PRESSURE COOKER Twins Severely Burned after KFC Fryer Explodes (twin brothers, 19, working at a restaurant are hospitalized with severe burns after the pressure fryer they were using exploded – they were severely burned while cooking chicken in the back of the restaurant when the pressurized cooker malfunctioned – one has burns on 70 percent of his body, while the other is burned on 17 percent of his body)

TIRE EXPLOSION Explosion injures Bad Axe man (worker, 47, was severely injured in what appeared to be a small explosion – he may have been airing a trailer tire and the rim exploded and separated, impacting with him and throwing him nearly 14 feet – he was found unconscious and was transported to a Medical Center before later being flown to an area hospital)

TREE TRIMMING Tree worker freed from bucket lift in Haddonfield (contractor, 52, was rescued after a limb fell and crushed his leg while he was in a bucket lift attempting to remove a tree shortly before 11 a.m.)

CUTTING 55-Gallon Drum EXPLOSION INJURES WELDER (worker was using a welding torch to cut the lids off 55-gallon drums that had held concentrated windshield wiper fluid, which contains methanol – explosion was probably triggered by fumes built up in the barrel – all of the barrels were clearly marked with flammable contents stickers – fire was quickly extinguished by dealership personnel)

What’s New @ SAFTENG.net

EPA RMP citations @ semiconductor wafer manufacturer (HCL Tube Trailers & $72K with SEP of $340K)

OSHA issues “Inspection Procedures for the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS 2012)”

EPA RMP General Duty Clause citation @ refinery (Flammables; $30K – Line Break)

OSHA PSM citations @ refrigeration warehousing company (NH3 & $116K, One Willful)

What’s OSHA been up to for the past month? (6/10/15 to 7/10/15)

Our contractors and their “subs”

Proposed Regulatory Changes to Improve Oil Refinery Safety (CalEPA)

2015 Photo of the Week #28 (Fan Guarding)

2015 Video of the Week #28 (Angle Grinder Dangers!! – WORKSAFE BC)

OSHA’s General Industry Fall Protection Standard under OMB Review

OSHA PSM Citations @ Chemical (herbicides) Plant (Toxics; $273K w/ Willfuls, Repeat, and SVEP)

OSHA issues temporary enforcement policy for confined spaces in construction (OSHA)

New versions of ALOHA and CAMEO Chemicals are now available (EPA-NOAA CAMEO Team)

What is the ACTUAL assigned protection factor for Powered Air Purifying Respirators (PAPR) WITHOUT a tight-fitting face piece?

Plant Ageing Study (UK’s HSE COMAH)

Comparing OSHA’s Confined Spaces in Construction standard (1926.1201-.1212) to the General Industry Standard (1910.146)

EPA RMP General Duty Clause citation @ oil and gas facility (Flammables; $30K – Forklift struck process piping causing N.G. release)

OSHA PSM citations @ cold storage facility (NH3 & $76K)

Can you name ALL the “documentation” one would need to demonstrate FULL compliance with 1910.146?

Unloading HAZMAT accident – WRONG TANK (NTSB DCA99MZ006)

Unloading HAZMAT accident – WRONG TANK (NTSB DCA99MZ003)

So here’s a trick question for you IH professionals… When I get my new SDSs, do I have to retain my old MSDS for 30 years?

Corn Starch DUST CLOUD ignition as Water Park Festival (WARNING – GRAPHIC)