Confined Space Accidents #2

This page was last updated on  05/06/2010

 

Missaukee farmer killed in silo mishap
By Judy Toomey, Staff Writer October 09, 2002 
LUCAS — A Missaukee County farmer died Tuesday morning while working in the top of a silo on his Lucas farm. According to Missaukee County Sheriff’s Office reports, David Schutte, 46, was attempting to level corn away from equipment when he was overcome by a lack of oxygen caused by carbon dioxide build-up inside the 95-foot Harvestore. A worker who was outside the silo attempted to rescue Schutte but was unable to reach him. The worker called 911 from his cellular phone, and rescue units including the Missaukee sheriff’s office, Cadillac and McBain fire departments, Missaukee County Rescue and EMS, the Michigan State Police and the United States Coast Guard, along with numerous friends and family members, responded to the scene. Rescue workers and neighbors were able to reach Schutte, who was lowered to the ground by the Cadillac Fire Department’s aerial rescue truck. However, he was pronounced dead at the scene due to asphyxiation. Missaukee County Sheriff Jim Bosscher said Schutte had been a lifelong area resident who had taken over the family farm from his father. “He had been farming all his life. He was a well-respected, very nice individual,” Bosscher said. Farmers are well aware of the danger of working in silos, said Kenneth Rosenman, a Michigan State University professor of medicine who tracks work-related deaths for the Michigan Fatality Assessment Control Evaluation program. However, mishaps still occur. “In recent years, there have been at least three deaths in similar situations in Michigan,” he said. According to Rosenman, two byproducts are produced by the fermentation of grain inside silos. In cinderblock silos, a nitrous oxide-type gas is most commonly produced. In more airtight lined silos — such as the Harvestore in which Schutte was killed — carbon dioxide is given off instead. Both gases can be deadly. Carbon dioxide replaces oxygen in the atmosphere and can lead to asphyxiation, while inhalation of nitrous oxide can result in pulmonary edema, or an accumulation of fluid in the lungs, Rosenman said. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, farming was second only to mining as the profession with the highest occupational fatality rate nationwide in 2001. “We tend to think of farming as idyllic, but there is a lot of hazardous equipment involved,” Rosenman noted. MiFACE statistics indicate that in 2001, 175 people died in work-related accidents in Michigan. Fifteen were farmers. Rosenman said that number is disproportionately high. While the number of manufacturing sector workers killed on the job is larger, there are many more factory workers in the state than there are farmers, he said. He indicated farming usually is ranked high on the list of the nation’s most dangerous professions. “Farming, manufacturing and fishing take turns being the riskiest,” he said. There are 15,000 silos in the state of Michigan. All are potentially hazardous, said Howard Doss, former farm safety specialist for Michigan State University. “You should never treat a silo as if it’s safe,” he said. Because fermentation begins almost immediately after an upright silo is filled, it’s important for farmers to stay out of silos until the process is finished, Doss said. “After you’re done filling up a silo, you need to stay out of it for the first 48 hours. If you have to do something like cover it or level it, do it immediately then get out of there. Don’t even wait until after lunch,” he advised. Silo gasses can linger even beyond 48 hours. “Cases (of accidents) have been reported days and even up to a week or so after filling a silo,” Rosenman said. Sheriff’s office reports did not indicated when the silo Schutte was working in had been filled. Doss said people entering silos should be equipped with a portable oxygen source such as the breathing apparatus worn by firefighters. “But for practical purposes, you can’t do it. The (silo) opening is so small, it’s difficult to get through by yourself, let alone with an airpack on your back. People take risks, and you’re seeing the result of that,” he said.

Two Men Fall in Chemical Tank
Tuesday, October 08, 2002
A frightening scene for two workers at a chemical plant in Haughton tonight. The Bossier Sheriff`s office tells us one of the workers fell into a tank filled with a flammable chemical known as heptane… used in oil or paint thinners. His co-worker jumped in, and was able to get him out, only to then fall in himself. A team of workers eventually got him out and the two were rushed to LSU Hospital. We`re told, they`re in serious condition tonight.

UPDATE, Fines reduced after safety improvements at UMaine 
ORONO (AP) — State labor officials have reduced the University of Maine’s fine for 12 safety violations. The decision comes more than three months after the accidental death of a UMaine employee at the school’s aquaculture research center in Franklin. William O’Coin suffocated when he entered a concrete aquaculture tank to rescue a 16-year-old summer employee who had been overcome by hydrogen sulfide fumes. Following O’Coin’s death, the state Bureau of Labor Standards took the university to task for a number of violations, including its failure to implement a policy on employees entering confined spaces. But this week, the state reduced the $111,000 fine to $51,000 after determining the university has responded appropriately to the accident. UMaine officials say the school plans to create a new Department of Safety and Environmental Management, which will consolidate existing safety programs.

Worker Rescued After Falling Into 15-Foot Pit
NBC 6 News Team
MIAMI — Miami-Dade Fire-Rescue crews responded to the scene Monday when a worker fell into a 15-foot concrete-lined pit. The 30-year-old man was painting the inside of a sewage pump lift station on the 1100 block of NW 163rd Street when he reportedly lost his balance and fell off the ladder into the hole, which extends some 20 feet below the ground. The worker suffered neck and back injuries in the fall, according to Jeff Strictland of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. Crews lowered a gurney into the hole and hoisted the man to safety without incident. He was listed in good condition at an area hospital Monday and is expected to make a full recovery. The lift station is owned by the city of North Miami. 

UPDATE, Officials: Toxic gas in manhole killed men; Company fined for not providing equipment, training to employees
Associated Press
MONCKS CORNER, S.C. – Officials say two surveyors found at the bottom of a Berkeley County manhole in July died from inhaling hydrogen sulfide. Emergency crews measured levels of hydrogen sulfide at 39 parts per million almost an hour after the bodies of Claude E. Bentley III, 31, of Charleston and John “Randy” Wall, 20, of Summerville were found in the manhole near Ladson on July 18, according to a state Labor Department’s Office of Occupational Safety and Health investigation report. An acceptable level of hydrogen sulfide concentration in the workplace is 20 parts per million with a maximum level of 50 parts per million inhaled for no longer than 10 minutes, according to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Exposure to 700 to 800 parts per million or higher is lethal within seconds. Officials still have few answers about why the men entered the sewer system or how the gas reached lethal levels. Authorities say there is no way to measure the gas at the precise time the men entered the manhole because the cover was off, allowing the gas to dissipate. Bentley and Wall, who were employees of Charleston-based General Engineering Laboratories, went to the site to do a final survey for extending Berkeley County sewer lines to a new housing development. State safety officials earlier this month fined General Engineering Laboratories for not providing proper hazard training or equipment to the two employees.

UPDATE, Firm cited for 7 safety violations in death
SARASOTA COUNTY — A federal agency has cited a construction company $68,700 for violating workplace safety rules in the March death of a worker at a county sewer project. Miguel Paramo was overcome by noxious fumes and passed out after rushing down a manhole on March 29. He entered the confined space to rescue a younger brother after a 2-inch pipe burst. Paramo, 33, died shortly after being taken to Bon Secours-Venice Hospital. He and two younger brothers were part of an E.T. MacKenzie crew building a county lift station at Laurel Road and Bayview Drive. he Occupational Health and Safety Administration investigated the accident and Thursday cited Bradenton-based E.T. MacKenzie for seven violations. They included not having a “competent person” perform frequent and regular inspections of the job site, and not providing workers with safety equipment such as a harness and retrieval system that could have pulled them out of the lift station. Workers were also exposed to such hazards as raw sewage without having the lift station properly ventilated. Officials with Bradenton- based E.T. MacKenzie could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon. Company officials have 15 working days to request an informal conference with OSHA officials, where they can present evidence. They also have the same amount of time to contest the citation. If E.T. MacKenzie contests, then an administrative law judge will hear the case. Michael Ortiz, the Sarasota attorney representing the Paramo estate, declined to comment. Les Grove, the area director for OSHA’s Tampa office, also declined to comment. OSHA’s investigation focused on E.T. MacKenzie. The federal agency has no authority to investigate state and local governments, such as Sarasota County. The county awarded E.T. MacKenzie a $481,483 contract in November to build the Nokomis lift station. Terry Simoni, the county’s risk and safety manager, has said the county’s contract with E.T. MacKenzie required the firm to comply with state and federal safety standards. 

WORKERS RELEASED FROM JRMC AFTER ACCIDENT AT PB ARSENAL
By Carl D. Holcombe/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Four men injured Thursday in a workplace accident at the Pine Bluff Arsenal have been released from a local hospital, officials said. Two men were released late Thursday from Jefferson Regional Medical Center and two were released Friday morning, said Barbara Slifer, an Arsenal spokeswoman. They were injured in a late-morning accident when they were exposed to dangerous levels of carbon monoxide, according to Arsenal officials. The men were operating a gasoline-powered sandblaster in a closed unventilated conventional weapons storage building when they were overcome by carbon monoxide, according to Arsenal officials. The accident didn’t involve the chemical weapons stockpile, storage igloos or the demilitarization facility, Arsenal officials said. None of the workers, who were sub-contractors of Tri-State Industrial Inc., were wearing appropriate protective gear, said Jerry Weilacher, chief of industrial hygiene at the Arsenal’s U.S. Army Health Clinic. The incident is under investigation by the Arsenal. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration will also likely investigate, Slifer said. One worker arrived unconscious Thursday at JRMC but was revived, Arsenal officials said. Carbon monoxide is an odorless and colorless gas produced by incomplete combustion. Extended exposure can lead to headaches, nausea, convulsions, permanent neurological damage and death. A level of 50 percent of carbon monoxide in a person’s blood-gas level can kill — smokers typically already are at 9 percent. The four workers had exposure levels of 17 percent to 33 percent, Weilacher said. 

UPDATE, Firm Fined $68,700 In March Death
A federal agency has cited E.T. MacKenzie, a construction company, $68,700 for violating workplace safety rules in the March death of a worker at a county sewer project. Miguel Paramo was overcome by noxious fumes and passed out after rushing down a manhole on March 29. He entered the confined space to rescue a younger brother. 

UPDATE, Man who fell into wine tank suffocated 
BEE STAFF REPORTS 
ESCALON — A 19-year-old Lathrop man who fell into a large concrete fermentation tank Wednesday died from asphyxia by atmospheric suffocation, the Stanislaus County coroner’s office reported Thursday. Jose Padilla, a temporary worker at Canandaigua Winery for the past three weeks, was not supposed to be on top of the 29,000-gallon tank because it already had been drained of its wine, a company spokeswoman said. Padilla broke through a metal safety grate atop the tank, which is 14 feet high, coroner’s deputy Kristi Herr said. He fell approximately 11 feet and landed on top of a thick pulp mixture of grape skins and seeds. Padilla last was seen at about 8 a.m. Wednesday. Fifteen minutes later, a worker noticed the missing grate, looked down into the tank and saw Padilla’s body lying face down. “The fumes would have rendered him unconscious within seconds,” Herr said. He was transported to Doctors Medical Center in Modesto and pronounced dead. The California Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the death. The winery remained open Thursday, but the tank was closed pending a report from CalOSHA.

Lake Crystal Man Dies in Grain Bin Accident 
Minnesota Ag Connection Editors 
An 18-year-old Lake Crystal man has died after being trapped in a grain bin. Jason Brandenburg was on his first day on the job at Grain Commerce, a grain elevator north of Lake Crystal in south-central Minnesota. Authorities say Brandenburg was last seen around 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday by a co-worker on top of one of two grain bins. Co-workers began looking for him when he couldn’t be found after lunch. After searching the elevator area, workers began to punch holes in the grain bin to empty it. Authorities found his body around 6:30 p.m. He was dead at the scene.

UTILITIES FIRE/ HAZMAT
Stubborn Coal Fire At Martin Drake Power Plant. No One Hurt.
by News 13 team.
A fire breaks out at the Martin Drake power plant near downtown Colorado Springs. No one was hurt. The fire broke out early Tuesday morning after utility workers were performing routine maintenance on one of the boilers. When they discovered a coal dust fire, they called the fire department. Coal dust fires at power plants aren’t rare, but fighting one in a confined space presented firefighters with some unique challenges. The coal dust had collected just below the boiler, and when the inspection door was opened, oxygen allowed the dust to catch fire. Crews are planning to have the plant back on line later this week. The boiler which was shut down as a result of the fire supplies about an eighth of the city’s electric power. Colorado Springs Utilities is buying power through a multi-state grid to make up for the lost capacity.

UPDATE, Iowa OSHA Issues Citations For Deadly Sewer Incident
CHESTERFIELD, Mo.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sept. 10, 2002–Insituform Technologies, Inc. today announced that the Iowa OSHA issued a Citation and Notification of Penalty in connection with a July 8, 2002 accident in Des Moines involving the death of two Company workers and the brief hospitalization of five other Company workers. The citation lists OSHA and Insituform safety procedures that were not followed. Iowa OSHA has proposed penalties of $808,250. The Company intends to continue discussions with Iowa OSHA regarding the accident, the specifics of the citation and the penalties. Since the July accident, Insituform has taken several actions focused on safety in its Cured-In-Place-Pipe (CIPP) operations. These include a comprehensive review of all aspects of the CIPP confined space entry safety program and a rolling, one-day stand-down of all domestic CIPP operations to review confined space entry safety procedures. Insituform has a good safety record. Through July 1, 2002, Insituform’s EMR (Experience Modifier Rating – a widely-used indicator of safety performance) was 0.72, which is 28% better than the average for the industry. Insituform Technologies, Inc. is a leading worldwide provider of proprietary technologies and services for rehabilitating sewer, water and other underground piping systems without digging and disruption. More information about Insituform can be found on its Internet site at www.insituform.com.

UPDATE, Fumes kill three in oil refinery 
Three members of a cleaning party working at an oil refinery near Corinth died early yesterday after inhaling deadly fumes in a reactor, prompting labor unions and left-wing parties to accuse employers of failing to take adequate safety precautions. The deaths came two days after a couple of workers were critically burnt and another three severely injured in an accident at the Megalopolis Public Power Corporation electricity plant in the southern Peloponnese. According to the management of the Motor Oil refinery at Aghioi Theodori, about 80 kilometers southwest of Athens, Constantinos Sofos, 34, Mario Perletsi, 27, and their overseer, Georgios Ioannou, 55, died after inhaling poisonous hydrogen sylphide fumes. They had not been wearing masks, he said, adding that the three worked for Mekasol, a firm contracted to change the catalyst in the reactor. The General Confederation of Greek Labor said the accident proved “the arbitrary behavior and lack of accountability of employers, and the total lack of safety measures.” The Communist Party spoke of a “crime against the working class.”

Three men die after fume inhalation at oil refinery 
ATHENS, Greece – Three workers died Tuesday after being overcome by fumes in an oil refinery tank they were cleaning, authorities said. Two of the men died while being taken to a hospital and the third died later. The men were employees of Mekasol, contracted to clean equipment at the Motor Oil Hellas refinery near Corinth, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of Athens. An investigation has been launched in the incident, authorities said.

UPDATE, Worker rescued from manhole 
By Todd Harper, Times Sentinel writer 
WHITESTOWN — A potentially lethal accident ended safely for a construction worker after the man fell to the bottom of a manhole at the Walker Farms subdivision on Whitestown’s south side Thursday, Aug. 29. Andrew Hammond, 28, of Valenti Held Construction Inc. was inside a yet-to-be-used sanitary manhole attempting to check the flow of the development’s sanitary system when, according to reports, he became dizzy and fell about 10 feet to the bottom of the 18-foot hole. The call came in to the Boone County Dispatch at 1:57 p.m. of a man having difficulty breathing after falling down a manhole. Walker Farms is a new subdivision located off of County Road 650 East and C.R. 400 South. The accident occurred just to the west of C. R. 650 East. Whitestown Police Marshal Ralph Roberts said Hammond of Indianapolis may have lost air, which caused him to lose consciousness and fall. Roberts said the only injury reported was to Hammond’s ankle. Hammond was taken to Witham Memorial Hospital in Lebanon for observation. Roberts said another construction worker was assisting Hammond at the time of the accident. “They were testing the flow of the line, making sure there weren’t any problems,” Roberts said. The worker had looked away for a moment, and when he looked back down, Hammond was at the bottom of the hole. The construction crew responded by using an air hose to provide oxygen to Hammond According to Roberts, the planned 1,080-home subdivision, which will be the largest subdivision in Boone County, will have a number of sanitary manholes throughout, and they must be installed before construction on the homes can begin. Roberts said he would not be surprised to see other incidents occur because of the project’s size. Lt. Mike Nielsen of the Boone County Police Department said through the years he has seen some similar incidents, but for the most part companies have been very careful when working on sanitary systems. “Most of the guys, especially Valenti Held, are always very careful,” said Nielsen, adding they have never had a problem with the company. Immediately after Hammond was helped out of the manhole and onto a stretcher, crews from the Worth Township Fire Department started checking the holes air conditions to determine the level of oxygen in the hole. Fire Chief Kelly Frye said there was minimal oxygen in the hole, but the investigation has shown no signs of toxins or chemicals. According to police, Hammond had reported smelling an odor when he became dizzy. A representative from OSHA arrived about an hour after the accident to examine the scene and to gather the reports from the local emergency agencies.

Worker Killed In Chalfont Accident
One man is dead, another hospitalized in fair condition after they were overcome by fumes while working inside an excavation pit in New Britain Township, Bucks County. It all started shortly before noon inside a well at 95 Creek Road in Chalfont. Officials say one man in the pit was overcome by fumes from a rubberized sealant. A second employee entered the pit to help and was also overcome by the fumes. Rescue crews were called and pulled the men out in 30-minutes. The victims were taken to Doylestown Hospital. One man was pronounced dead on arrival, the apparent victim of a heart attack. The second worker is in fair conditon. Hospital officials say two firefighters required decontamination, but they were not hurt.

Two killed in Martin feed mill accident
By Bill Cissell, Journal Staff Writer
MARTIN — Two men are dead following an accident Tuesday morning at Mueller’s Feed Mill in Martin. The names of the victims aren’t being released until authorities notify next of kin. According to plant owner Fred Mueller, the accident happened at 8:30 a.m. when an employee climbed into an almost empty 4,000-gallon molasses vat to begin an annual cleaning. “One of the other employees said he’d only been in the vat about a minute when he seemed to pass out. Another employee went in after the first man and, as he was trying to hand the first man to waiting employees, he passed out in about the same amount of time,” Mueller said. He said only about 4 to 4-1/2 inches of molasses were in the bottom of the vat. Mueller said local emergency response personnel had been called, and the first to arrive on scene was a Bennett County sheriff’s deputy. “He got a harness on and we used a forklift to lower him. He went down and got the second man out because he was on top of the first guy,” Mueller said. The deputy then went back for the first victim. Mueller said it was unclear yet just what happened and why the two men passed out. “This was a very oxygen-deficient confined space,” Lt. Dan Goodart, Rapid City/Pennington County Hazmat Team, said. “There wasn’t enough oxygen in there to take a breath, and all you would have gotten was (a breath of stuff like sewer gas),” Goodart said. Officials from the Office of Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are expected at the mill today, according to both Goodart and Bennett County Sheriff Russ Waterbury. Both men were unconscious and not breathing after being pulled from the vat. Local Emergency Medical Technician-Intermediate Kris Schlack said CPR was performed on both victims at the plant, on the way to the hospital and at the hospital, but neither victim was revived.”They were both pronounced dead at the hospital,” she said. “We’ve been cleaning that vat the same way for the past 40 years and never had a problem,” Mueller said. The vat has to be cleaned yearly so any remaining lumps of sugar or molasses don’t drop into the feed line and plug it. The molasses is mixed with grain that is fed to farm animals. “We won’t know the actual cause of death until the autopsies are done (today),” Waterbury said. “It appears it was some kind of fumes.” “This is cane molasses, the same stuff you put on your pancakes. We never dreamed it could become lethal,” he said.

UPDATE, Man visits firefighters who rescued him from manhole
News-Journal wire services
JACKSONVILLE — The tears flowed freely as Tony Mathews watched a videotape of his seemingly lifeless body being raised from a manhole where he nearly died a week ago. Mathews visited Fire Station 13 in Jacksonville Thursday to thank the firefighters and paramedics who retrieved him from the manhole and saved his life. In turn, the firefighters showed him a fire department video made of the rescue. “It was so emotional to see yourself being rescued,” Mathews said. “I can’t say enough about these guys.” Firefighters said they normally don’t hear from the people they rescue. “We usually drop them at the hospital and that’s it,” said Engineer Jimbo Taylor of Rescue 13. “We seldom know the outcome.” Mathews, 29, of Yulee, is one of three construction workers who lost consciousness Aug. 30 while checking underground sewer lines. At one point, Mathews, Hilario Martinez, 32, and Greg Andrews Jr., 20, were hospitalized in critical condition. All have been released from Baptist Medical Center. Officials now believe the three were sickened by a high concentration of hydrogen sulfide, a gas that can cause sudden unconsciousness and halt breathing in high concentrations. It was first thought they suffered from oxygen deprivation. The level of hydrogen sulfide in the manhole may have been 20 to 30 times as high as it should have been, said John Ream, a spokesman for the workers’ employer, Jensen Civil Construction. He said blowers meant to vent the manhole instead pulled hydrogen sulfide from a sewer station down the line. The three men were treated in a hyperbaric chamber, which uses increased air pressure and high concentrations of oxygen to force unwanted gases out of a person’s system. Mathews, the job foreman, said he does not remember much of what happened in the incident. “It was a freak accident,” he said. “I’ve got plenty of experience in it, and I couldn’t tell you what happened.” He said his first recollection was waking in the hospital. An investigation is under way by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration to determine if safety rules were violated.

Worker dies in collapse of water tank’s roof
By Dan Hardy, Inquirer Staff Writer
The roof of an empty five-million-gallon water-storage tank that was being demolished at the Philadelphia Suburban Water Co.’s Springfield operations center collapsed this morning, killing a worker. Terry Eugene Clifton, 43, of McConnelsville, Ohio, an employee of the Mayer Pollock Steel Corp. of Pottstown, died of head injuries, according to the Delaware County Medical Examiner’s Office. Philadelphia Suburban Water Co., which owns the tank, had hired Meyer Pollock to tear it down. Chris Franklin, a spokesman for Philadelphia Suburban Water, said Mayer Pollock employees had planned to take down the top of the tank today. But about 7:10 a.m., “something went tragically wrong,” he said, and the ceiling of the tank, which is 28 feet high and 175 feet across, collapsed while two men were inside. One of the men was near a large entrance that had been cut in the side of the tank and escaped largely unhurt, he said, but Clifton was buried under a pile of metal while he was still about 30 feet from the entrance. Employees of Philadelphia Suburban Water raced to the tank and began working to free Clifton, but he was already dead, Franklin said. The Springfield Philadelphia Suburban Water facility, near Sproul and Beatty Roads, is the company’s Delaware County headquarters. The tank contained water until about three years ago, when the company decided it was no longer needed. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspected the site today after the accident. Area director Phyllis Kyner said the agency would have no comment until the investigation was complete, which she said would take several weeks. Mayer Pollock Steel is a family-owned business that has been in operation since 1888, according to its Web site. In addition to demolition work, it recycles industrial scrap. Company vice president Dennis Owens did not return a call today asking for comment.

Baltic States: Three killed in shipyard gas leak 
By Sara Toth, TALLINN
Officials are investigating why three men died of methane poisoning Aug. 30 while cleaning pipes in a Tallinn shipyard. Police and a spokesman for the Baltic Ship Repair Group have called the incident an accident but are looking into why the men were not wearing oxygen masks while in the sewage-treatment area. Police identified the victims by their first names as Alexander, 59, Viktor, 62, and Oleg, 67, said Robert Kurvits, a spokesman for the Estonian Police Board. All three were longtime employees at the Baltic Ship Repair Group, a conglomeration of 36 companies based in Tallinn. one man who survived, identified as Arno, 40, had gone down into the basement of a sewage treatment station on the plant’s property to clean a pipe, said Priit Laos, a spokesman for the Estonian Rescue Board. The four men were not wearing oxygen masks and they inhaled poisonous methane gas, which occurs naturally in sewage, Laos said. When paramedics and firefighters arrived to the scene shortly after 1 p.m., two victims and one unconscious person had been brought out of the basement by co-workers wearing oxygen masks, Laos said. Firefighters retrieved the third victim from the basement, Laos said. Two other people have died in the last three years from methane poisoning in sewer facilities, Laos said. “This is the first time when so many people have died together,” he said. Laos said the deaths could have been avoided if proper procedures were followed. “Everything was wrong here,” Laos said. “People working in these kinds of places should know how to behave and what protections to use. These people didn’t know.” Officials from the Baltic Ship Repair Group declined to comment further about the plant’s safety procedures. Police expect the investigation to take at least one week.

UPDATE, State alleges safety violations in gas explosion
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Gas Energy has been accused of violating three safety rules in a natural gas explosion that injured two contract workers in Kansas City last year. A complaint filed Thursday by state utility regulators seeks permission to take MGE to court, where a judge could fine and penalize the natural gas company. The allegations stem from a Dec. 10 explosion in an underground natural gas pipeline vault — a space containing pipelines, valves and regulating equipment. The explosion injured two contract workers for Midwest Gunite and Restoration, who were removing concrete forms from the newly installed vault doors. Both workers suffered burns, and one had broken bones. A report released Thursday by staff for the Missouri Public Service Commission concluded that the explosion was caused when an impact wrench ignited natural gas that had leaked into the vault. The gas remained trapped in the vault partly because workers had covered most of the opening with plywood, the report said. Workers had not tested the vault for gas before entering it — a violation of a state rule requiring gas companies to take steps to reduce the chance of an accidental explosion, the report said. The PSC staff also accused MGE of not providing proper instruction and supervision and to the contract employees — violating one state rule requiring training and another requiring companies to ensure that contract work meets safety requirements. Missouri Gas Energy serves about 500,000 customers in the Kansas City area and western Missouri, including the city of Neosho. A spokesman for the company said he had not seen the complaint and had no comment. The staff complaint alleging violations is to go before the full Public Service Commission, which would decide whether to refer the case to a circuit court to seek penalties against MGE. Fines could range from $100 to $2,000 for each of the three alleged violations, said Bob Leonberger, who heads the PSC’s natural gas pipeline safety program. The case also could be settled before the court, or even before the PSC holds a hearing, he said. In such scenarios, “the operators usually would take measures to train people and make sure this stuff does not happen again,” Leonberger said. “We’re more interested in safety and making sure this doesn’t happen again” than in fining companies. Any fines against utility companies go to the state’s public school fund.

Workers suffer oxygen deprivation in Jacksonville manhole
Three construction workers were in critical condition Saturday after suffering from oxygen deprivation while working in a manhole. Hilario Martinez, 32, and Tony Mathews, 29, of Jacksonville, are being treated at Baptist Medical Center in Jacksonville along with Greg Andrews Jr., 20, of Yulee. Fire and rescue units arrived Friday morning but couldn’t determine how long the men were inside the precast concrete manhole, said Jacksonville Fire Department spokesman Tom Francis. The men were found 10 feet down in the hole, officials said. The oxygen level where there was about 16 percent, well below the 19.5 percent that’s considered oxygen deficient, fire officials said. Homicide Sgt. Randy Justice said Martinez was overcome first, then two other workers went inside, each to retrieve the other. “Basically the three men were entangled within themselves in the hole,” said firefighter Randy White. “Normally we would not go into a manhole with three people inside.” White and two other firefighters went into the hole. A rope harness was used to secure the men on a ladder before they were hoisted to ground level. The rescue took about 30 minutes. Justice said the workers didn’t have a permit and didn’t have a safety harness near the hole.

Two rig workers likely died from suffocation
By RUTH RENDON, Houston Chronicle
GALVESTON — Two men who collapsed and died while helping to clean an oil drilling rig probably suffocated, investigators said Friday. The Galveston County Medical Examiner’s Office was withholding a ruling in the Thursday night deaths, however, pending further investigation. The men were cleaning out a leg of the Diamond Ocean Quest rig when they were overcome. Co-workers found them after 7 p.m., but they could not be revived, said Galveston Fire Department Battalion Chief Mike Varela. One victim was identified as Rigoberto Aragon, 32, whose address was unknown. The name of the other worker, age 46, was being withheld pending notification of relatives. Firefighters said the rig had been sealed for five years and was opened Thursday so that workers could check for damage in the legs, which typically are filled with seawater or mud for ballast. Varela said the two victims were not wearing breathing equipment and probably suffocated because the oxygen level in the leg was lower than that in normal breathable air. He said he didn’t know whether the men were monitoring air quality while working in the confined space. The drilling rig, owned by Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc., was docked at Pier 34 while undergoing repairs by Newpark Shipbuilding Pelican Island Inc., said Mary Jones, vice president of risk management and corporate counsel for Newpark’s parent company, First Wave Marine Inc.

Construction Worker Injured Falling Into Manhole
A construction worker was injured Wednesday afternoon after he fell into a manhole near the airport. The worker was an employee for a private contractor. It happened at about 1:30 p.m. on Aolele Street near Honolulu International Airport. Officials said the man appeared to have been retrieving some equipment from inside the manhole when he was apparently overcome by fumes and fell in. The man was taken to Tripler Army Hospital in stable condition but was not conscious. Honolulu Fire Department Capt. Richard Soo said that air samples showed that there was hydrogen sulfide gas in the manhole and surrounding area.

Miner Killed In ‘Preventable’ Accident
A strip miner apparently broke an industry rule and paid for it with his life, WTAE’s Chris Glorioso reported. Timothy Barrett, 40, of Dayton, Pa., was found dead Tuesday morning in a hole that he drilled at the Walter Hauser Coal Co. strip mine in Kittanning, Armstrong County. Barrett was doing some auger mining, which calls for a horizontal hole to be drilled into a wall of sediment. He stopped drilling momentarily and went into the hole, where officials believe he either suffocated or inhaled some carbon or methane gases from a sealed shaft that had been punctured by his drill bit. “At the opening there may have been sufficient oxygen for him, but as he got further back there was less for him to breathe,” said Mike Ferretti, of the Department of Environmental Protection. “In some cases, it can be almost instantaneous. By the time you realize you can’t breathe or you’re starting to get dizzy, you’ve already gotten into an atmosphere that can’t sustain life.” Officials said Barrett was not allowed to be in the hole, and they do not know why he went in. “Under mine rules, no one is to go back into an auger hole,” county Coroner Robert Bower said. Hauser officials and employees said Barrett knew about the rule. “This is an unfortunate accident that could have been prevented,” Ferretti said. State and federal mining officials are investigating. The Mine Safety and Health Administration will decide whether Houser will be penalized for the incident, Glorioso reported.

UPDATE, Workplace death spurring UMaine
Associated Press
University of Maine President Peter Hoff asked Monday for a meeting with state labor officials to discuss a fatal accident and ways to improve workplace safety for employees on the campus. The university is committed to resolving the citations and penalties and making safety changes as soon as possible, Hoff wrote in a letter to the director of the Maine Bureau of Labor Standards. “The university is taking whatever steps are necessary to prevent a similar accident from occurring in the future,” he wrote. The bureau has cited the university for 12 violations of workplace safety regulations that carry a total penalty of $111,000. William O’Coin, 43, of Ellsworth was killed on July 29 when he was overcome by hydrogen sulfide fumes in a 16-foot concrete aquaculture tank at the Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research in Franklin. He died of asphyxiation. O’Coin had gone into the tank to rescue George Schaefer, 16, a summer employee who was overcome by the fumes as he hosed down sludge in the tank. Among other things, the Bureau of Labor Standards took the university to task for failing to implement a written policy already in place that governed employees’ entry into confined areas like the aquaculture tank. The university has until Aug. 26 to correct the problems.

Man Dies in Freak Pea Drop
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (Reuters) – A Swedish man died Tuesday when he was buried alive under a 13-ton pile of peas in a storage silo, local media reported. The man, who was around 30 years old, was working on an electrical installation on a farm near the town of Mjolby in southeastern Sweden when the peas were dumped on him. Rescue workers pulled the man from the silo but were unable to revive him, a radio station reported.

UPDATE, Safety director: Avoid manure pits without needed equipment 
The Thursday deaths of two farmers reinforced that dangerous gases are produced inside the pits
For The News-Chronicle
Following Thursday’s double fatality on the Staats family farm in the Town of Lincoln, a statewide agricultural safety specialist is reminding farm workers of the precautions they should take before entering a manure pit. Stephen Staats, 53, and his son Nicholas, 23, died Thursday morning when they entered an approximately eight-by-eight-by-10-foot manure pit for either maintenance or repairs and were apparently overcome by fumes, the Kewaunee County Sheriff’s Department said Friday. Mark Perschwitz, director of the Wisconsin Center for Rural Safety and Health, said the air inside any manure pit must be presumed unsafe to breathe unless it’s been tested, which can be involve expensive equipment. Barring testing, Perschwitz said those entering a manure pit should use a self-contained breathing apparatus. He also said the pit should have a ventilation system. Four potentially dangerous gases can be produced inside a pit, Perschwitz said: Hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, ammonia and methane. He said hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide are especially problematic because they are heavier than air, which means they may not naturally rise out of a pit. While Perschwitz said farm fatalities usually involve only one individual being killed per incident, he noted it’s common for “confined space” fatalities, such as fatalities inside a manure pit, to include more than one victim. He said manure pit fatalities can involve one person overcome by gases and another becoming a victim in an unsuccessful rescue attempt, for example. “Basically we tell people to stay out of manure pits.” Perschwitz said. The deaths of Stephen and Nicholas Staats are the first farming-related fatalities in Kewaunee County since April 2000 when Harold Haegele, 72, of Algoma died after being pinned in a stone picker on a Town of Ahnapee farm.

UPDATE, University faces more fines in man’s death 
Press Herald Staff Reporter, Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
The University of Maine is facing additional fines and citations for allegedly violating workplace safety regulations in connection with the death of an employee last week at the university’s aquaculture facility in Franklin. The university learned Monday that the Maine Bureau of Labor Standards is citing it for 12 violations — 11 of which the bureau characterizes as “willful” — that carry a total penalty of $111,000. Initially, the bureau had determined after an inspection last week that there were nine workplace safety violations, only one of them willful, with fines totaling $18,000. The Bureau of Labor Standards inspected the aquaculture facility after William O’Coin, 43, died of asphyxiation July 29 after being overcome by hydrogen sulfide fumes. The Ellsworth man was trying to rescue another employee, George Schaefer, 16, of Sullivan, who had been overcome by the fumes inside a narrow, 16-foot tank where he was trying to clean out some sludge. Schaefer remains in intensive care at Boston Children’s Hospital where he is in serious condition. Michael Frett, director of the Bureau of Labor Standards, said Monday that the investigation is ongoing and that the bureau received additional information that led it to amend its initial findings. He declined to be specific, saying the bureau’s findings remain confidential by law until the end of an appeals process. University spokesman Joe Carr said the university is reviewing the bureau’s new report and has not decided whether to appeal. But he said the university plans to take advantage of its legal right to discuss the proposed penalties with the bureau. The university also issued a statement Monday saying: “We again reiterate our sorrow regarding the tragic events in Franklin and continue to take steps to ensure the health and safety of all university employees.” The university previously had said it would not appeal the earlier report by the bureau because it said the findings were consistent with its own investigation. The bureau in its first report dated July 30 cited the university for nine workplace safety violations at the Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research; only one of the violations was termed “willful.” The bureau defined “willful” as the university’s being aware that a confined space existed and that it failed to implement its confined-space entry policy. In the one “willful” violation, the bureau said the university had developed a written policy for employees regarding entering confined spaces but failed to implement it. That one violation carried a $10,000 penalty and the other eight, non-willful violations had penalties of $1,000 each, bringing the total fines to $18,000. But in an amended report dated Friday, and which the university received Monday, the bureau cited the university for a total of 12 violations, and said 11 of them were willful. Each of those 11 violations carries a $10,000 penalty and the 12th a $1,000 penalty, bringing the total to $111,000 in fines. The university must also correct the problems. Some of the violations on the amended report are new and some are identical or rewritten versions of the ones on the old report. The “willful” violations by the university that are alleged in the amended report include: l Not evaluating whether the facility had any confined spaces that workers needed a permit to enter. l Not posting danger signs of the existence and location of such confined spaces and the hazards they pose. l Not training employees about confined spaces or documenting that they were trained. l Not having a rescue plan. The only violation deemed not willful in the amended report was not ensuring that all employees participated in the development and implementation of all aspects of a program regarding confined spaces. Carr said the Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research was formerly a private fish hatchery that the university bought three years ago to do more in the growing field of aquaculture research. O’Coin was the systems manager for the hatchery and continued in that position for the university, Carr said. Schaefer is a summer employee. The 16-foot tank that he was cleaning is inside a very large building that has about 20 small tanks that hold fish. The large, concrete tank is used for adding oxygen to the fish tanks, but it had malfunctioned and was being examined, Carr said. He said this was the first time an attempt had been made to clean it since the university owned the facility. The youth was inside the tank, which is six feet in diameter, hosing down about 4 inches of sludge at the bottom of the tank with water to make a solution that could be pumped out. He was overcome by hydrogen sulfide gas generated from the sludge, Carr said. O’Coin yelled for help and then climbed in to rescue the youth, whose head was underwater. 

UPDATE, Condition Of UMaine Teen Still Serious; State Finds Violations In Fatal Franklin Accident
The teen-ager rescued earlier this week by his co-worker who died saving him was “still in serious condition” Wednesday at Children’s Hospital in Boston, according to a hospital spokeswoman. George Schaefer, 16, of Sullivan was saved from asphyxiation Monday by his co-worker, William O’Coin, 43, of Ellsworth, who died rescuing him. The two had been cleaning sludge from the bottom of a concrete tank at the University of Maine Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research in Franklin when they were overcome by toxic hydrogen sulfide fumes. The accident was the first accidental work site-related death in the university’s history, UM officials have said. State officials have found there were violations, based on federal standards, concerning “permitted confined space” at the facility, according to David Wacker of the state’s Bureau of Labor Standards Workplace Safety and Health Division. The state has completed its preliminary investigation, he said. There are “certain things [that] have to be done before a tank can be entered,” Wacker said Wednesday. According to preliminary findings, those steps may not have been taken before the workers began cleaning, he said. The final investigation report by the Bureau of Labor Standards will be sent to Michael Frett, the bureau’s director, in the next few days. Frett then will assign violation notices to the university that Wacker said have “citations and penalties” associated with them. University officials were at the Franklin facility Wednesday doing fact- finding research, according to UM spokesman Joe Carr. Representatives from the UMS insurance staff, as well as university health and safety representatives, were talking to the facility staff to gather information and create documentation of what happened during Monday’s accident, Carr said. Staff members from the university’s employee assistance program, all trained counselors, also were on site in Franklin to speak with employees and assist in any way possible, Carr said. “We’re doing what we can to help those affected an continue to take steps toward prevention,” the spokesman said.

Two men likely killed by fumes from manure pit
By Nathan Phelps, greenbay press gazette
LINCOLN Fumes in a manure pit may have overcome two Kewaunee County men who died Thursday. Stephen Staats, 53, and his son Nicholas, 23, died after they apparently entered the pit for either maintenance or repairs, the Kewaunee County Sheriff’s Department said. Rescue crews were called to the farm off Kewaunee County C in the town of Lincoln around 8:30 p.m. on a report of two people trapped in a manure pit — a holding area for animal waste generated on the farm. Both men had been dead about six hours when rescue crews arrived, according to the sheriff’s department. “It’s another one of those potential hazards that unfortunately is on a dairy farm,” said Mark Feuerstein, agricultural agent with Door County University of Wisconsin-Extension. Manure emits several gases — including ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide and methane — that can be lethal or cause unconsciousness, said Mark Purschwitz, University of Wisconsin-Extension agricultural safety and health specialist. The pit was about 8 feet wide, 8 feet long and 10 feet high. About 18 inches of manure was on the floor of the pit, according to the sheriff’s department. Kewaunee County Sheriff Dennis Zuege said there were no signs of foul play. Purschwitz said these types of accidents don’t happen often, but the pits pose a danger. In 1989, five people died after entering a manure pit on a farm near Menominee, Mich. “It’s a well-documented hazard,” he said.

Man Dies In UMaine Wastewater Treatment Tank
An Ellsworth man died while trying to saving a 16-year-old boy who collapsed while cleaning a wastewater tank used by the University of Maine in aquaculture research. William O’Coin, 43, managed to pull the boy’s head out of the liquid to keep him from drowning and to call out for help before he, too, was overcome by the fumes in the tank, police said. O’Coin died from asphyxiation but the boy, George Schafer, 16, of Sullivan, survived. He was transferred Tuesday to a Boston hospital. The two were cleaning out a 16-foot-tall concrete tank when hydrogen sulfide gas generated from sludge in the tank overwhelmed them, said Maine State Police Sgt. Kelly Barbee. Steve Eddy, a biologist at the University of Maine Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research, said the boy climbed into the tank to break up the sludge by spraying it with water from a hose. O’Coin saw the boy succumb to the fumes and yelled for help before climbing down into the tank to save the boy, Eddy said. ”He didn’t think twice about it,” Eddy said of O’Coin. ”He just went right down there after him.” The boy’s head went underwater in the tank, but O’Coin managed to pull the boy’s head back out of the water, Eddy said. The boy was taken to a hospital, where he was in stable condition. Eddy said he nearly climbed down into the tank as well but instead climbed to safety because he heard the sirens of emergency vehicles. The tank is in a dimly lit room roughly 50 feet long and 40 feet wide, according to university officials. It housed tanks used for cultivating halibut, which normally live in low-light conditions. Cleaning the 6-foot-wide tank, which is sunk into the floor, was not a routine task, Eddy said. In the two years he has worked at the facility, Eddy said the tank had never been cleaned. The Maine Department of Labor will investigate the accident because it occurred on state property. O’Coin and the boy were not using safety equipment at the time of the accident, Barbee said. What, if any, equipment they should have been using will be determined by investigators, he said.

Worker Rescued After Falling 10 Feet Into Sewage
Rescue Team Uses Ropes, Pulleys To Lift Employee
ALLIANCE, Ohio — A man who fell more than 10 feet to a sewage-covered floor lay motionless for an hour as firefighters worked to rescue him. Tim O’Neill was climbing a ladder inside a sludge tank when he slipped and fell. The 12-year worker at the Alliance Wastewater Plant had been cleaning the sides of the tank, used to stabilize bacteria in solid waste. Rescue workers had to use a system of ropes and pulleys to lift O’Neill through the 3-foot opening at the top. Rescue workers quickly rinsed him with a fire hose after he was pulled from the tank. Paramedics said the fall left him with possible ankle and back injuries. He was in satisfactory condition Tuesday at Aultman Hospital in Canton.

Investigators wonder what caused survey workers to enter manholes
Saturday, July 20, 2002
BY KATHY STEVENS, Of The Post and Courier Staff 
There are more questions than answers today as local and state authorities investigate the deaths of two surveyors whose bodies were found Thursday at the bottom of a 15-foot manhole near Ladson. So far, officials can do little more than speculate about the deaths. Medical examiners hope to determine through tests what type of gases may have been involved. Safety officials want to know whether the men took appropriate precautions to enter confined spaces. And industry experts simply want to know why the men entered the manholes. Officials do know that Claude E. Bentley III, 31, and John “Randy” Wall, 20, worked for Charleston-based General Engineering Laboratories, Inc. They went to the Bellwright Road manholes to conduct a final survey on a new sewer extension that linked a new housing development off U.S. Highway 78 to Berkeley County sewer lines. Witnesses said they saw Bentley, of Charleston, and Wall, of Summerville, remove manhole covers and disappear into the holes. One witness saw a “puff of smoke” from one hole after one of the men went down. The other man ran to the hole, bent over to look down, then fell inside. The men were dead when firefighters in protective gear brought them up. Ross Wattay, line maintenance supervisor with Berkeley County Water and Sanitation Authority, said he knows of no reason why the two needed to enter the manholes. If they were trying to get an operating permit from the state that would allow the developer to transfer ownership and upkeep of the manhole to the county water authority, they only would need to place a rod into the manhole to check its depth, he said. “Why they went in is beyond us,” Wattay said. There are safety rules about entering manholes to avoid deadly gases such as methane, carbon monoxide or hydrogen sulfide. The procedural rules were highlighted in August 1987 when two city of North Myrtle Beach employees died while checking a manhole at a wastewater plant. One man was in the hole when two on the outside heard a splash. The second employee entered and found his co-worker face down in the water. He yelled to the third, who had begun to descend, to get out. “The third employee blacked out on the way up,” said Lesia Kudelka, S.C. OSHA spokeswoman. All were treated for hydrogen sulfide poisoning, but only the third employee survived. OSHA cited the city, stating the employer knew or should have known the employees were exposed to hazards associated with working in confined spaces, Kudelka said. She said it could be six weeks before OSHA completes its investigation of this latest accident. Investigators will talk with the men’s employer, rescue workers and witnesses. They will review the coroner’s report and equipment used to piece together what happened and determine if safety rules were violated. James Stelling, president and CEO of General Engineering Laboratories, Inc., declined to comment Friday. Kathy Stevens covers crime in Berkeley and Dorchester counties. Contact her at 745-5858.

UPDATE, County workers burned in fire
By PAMELA BRADLEY and ERIC COLLINS, Staff Writers
Six county public works employees burned during an explosion in a Pasadena sewer line yesterday were in good or fair condition this morning as officials continued to probe what caused the flash fire.  Frank Weilman Jr., 43, of Pasadena, and Tom Lange, 42, of Glen Burnie, suffered second-degree burns to 36 percent of their bodies and were flown by state police helicopter to the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, said Capt. Robert Rose, a county Fire Department spokesman.  Mr. Weilman remained in fair condition this morning, and Mr. Lange’s condition was listed as good, a hospital spokesman said.  Another worker, Steve Dary, 47, of Glen Burnie, was in fair condition, while Larry Kiessling, 49, of Severn, Mark Bois, 40, of Pasadena, and Byron Belcher, 54, of Queenstown, were all in good condition.  “We’re all concerned,” said Pam Jordan, a spokesman for the county Department of Public Works. “Never in our experience … have we ever had an incident like this.”  The public works crew was conducting a routine inspection of a sewer line off Fort Smallwood Road across from Constellation Power Source’s Brandon Shores power plant complex about 1:35 p.m. before the explosion occurred, Ms. Jordan said.  Two of the workers, Mr. Weilman and Mr. Belcher, were inside a concrete vault under the manhole using an electric power tool to open a pipe and examine it for leaks or overflows, she said. The explosion happened soon after.  Mr. Belcher climbed out on his own while other members of the 10-person crew helped Mr. Weilman out. The four others were injured while working on land nearby, Ms. Jordan said.  Officials with the Maryland occupational safety and health office and the county Public Works Department planned to investigate the incident.  Although there was apparently an unusually large buildup of gases in the sewer line, it was uncertain whether the use of the power tool sparked the explosion, Ms. Jordan said.  The incident gained attention from outside the area for a short while, as some media and law enforcement personnel mistakenly thought a bomb had been detonated.  The fire department received two calls from Atlanta-based CNN and at least one call from the FBI, said Capt. Lee Cornwell, a county fire spokesman.

Man killed in concrete mixer
by Anthony France
A London man was crushed to death early today as the concrete lorry he was cleaning accidentally switched on.  The 33-year-old victim was working with his head and shoulders inside an access hatch when the motor started.  The mechanism dragged him inside and the top half of his body was crushed by the huge drum. He was trying to remove a load of concrete at a firm based at Baldwins Farm, in Dennises-Lane, Upminster, shortly after 1am.  A colleague with him was not hurt but was being treated for shock.  Essex police, who are investigating, said they had not formally identified the victim, who was from Elm Park, but his girlfriend and father had been informed.

Petrobras Refinery Explosion Leaves 2 Dead in Brazil 
An explosion in a state-owned refinery in southeastern Brazil left two people dead and three heavily injured, a company spokeswoman said. Security and operations specialists are investigating what caused the late Monday (7/15/2002) blast in the Petrobras facility in Betim, a town 340 kilometers (210 miles) north of Rio de Janeiro, refinery spokeswoman Fatima Ribas told The Associated Press Tuesday. The explosion happened when workers were doing maintenance in one of the flares, the towers where residues of the oil-refining process are burnt. The two fatal victims were employees of local firm Potencial Engenharia that is providing services for Petrobras. The incident adds to various other accidents and oil spills that occurred in Petrobras’s facilities the past couple of years. The worst accident happened in March 2001, when the company’s biggest offshore oil rig after an explosion sank into the South Atlantic 125 kilometers (75 miles) off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, leaving 11 workers dead and spilling 92,000 gallons of diesel fuel into the ocean.

6 workers hospitalized after sewer blast; Men were conducting routine pipe inspection when gases were ignited 
By Julie Bykowicz, Sun Staff
Two Anne Arundel County public works employees were badly burned and four others were also hospitalized Tuesday afternoon when something triggered an underground sewer explosion in the northern part of the county. The men were working inside the system, near the Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. facilities in the wooded area between Solley Road and Fort Smallwood Road, when a flash fire ignited about 1:30 p.m., said Capt. Robert Rose, a spokesman for the county Fire Department. Public works spokeswoman Pam Jordon said power tools may have ignited a normal buildup of gases in an underground “vault” that provides access to pipes. County and Maryland Occupational Safety and Health officials were investigating the accident, Jordon said. Frank Weilman Jr., 43, of Pasadena and Tom Lange, 42, of Glen Burnie sustained second-degree burns to the chest, face and arms, Rose said. They were airlifted to John Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, where Weilman was listed in critical condition and Lange was in fair condition Tuesday night. Public works employees Steve Dary of Glen Burnie, Larry Kiessling of Severn, Mark Bois of Pasadena and Byron Belcher of the Eastern Shore were also transported to the hospital’s burn center by ambulance, Rose said. All four men, whose ages were unavailable, were listed in fair condition Tuesday night. One public works official called the blast “minor” because no one was killed and the sewer system did not appear to be structurally damaged. “I’ve worked here since 1977, and I’ve never seen this occur,” said Paul Lesher, a regional manager for the county public works department. “But I have heard of it happening in many other places.” About a dozen county public works employees were preparing a force main as part of a routine sewage pipeline inspection when something ignited a pocket of gases — including methane — normally produced by decomposing waste water, Lesher said. Employees described the incident as a flash fire, Lesher said. Seconds after the blast, one of the men working underground was able to pull himself out, and other employees helped the second man out, he said. Early reports indicated the explosion had occurred at a BGE facility, so numerous BGE employees were at the scene Tuesday. But none of the power lines that run parallel to the sewer lines was damaged, Lesher said. The blast did not affect the county’s sewer system, Lesher said, because that line had been closed off for the inspection. The sewage pipes in that area are 36 inches in diameter and about 10 years old, he said.

UPDATE, Company challenges fines from explosion
By KAY LUNA/ QUAD-CITY TIMES 
CLINTON, Iowa — Almost a year has passed since 29-year-old Edward Boles of Clinton was killed while handling explosives on the job at a Wisconsin power plant, but the federal case against his Camanche employer continues. Philip Services has contested several citations and proposed fines of up to $133,350 handed down from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, stemming from Boles’ death Aug. 16, 2001. The citations claimed willful, serious and other-than-serious safety and health violations. The case was transferred to a regional OSHA office in Washington, D.C., for litigation in federal court, said Charles Burin, area director for OSHA. The process could be lengthy, he said. “The case is in the very early stages,” said Brent Clark, a Chicago lawyer representing Philip Services. Boles was killed while attempting to clean the inside of a boiler as he worked for Philip Services/North Central Inc. at the JP Madgett Generation Station in Alma, Wis. Dairyland Power Cooperative owns the station. A settlement between OSHA and Dairyland ended in March with the company agreeing to pay $48,600 of the initially proposed $94,500 in fines. The deadline for paying the fines has been extended to Aug. 31. Delays in the process are upsetting for Boles’ mother, Karen Boles, who has been following the federal-citation process closely for months. “For me, I’m concerned that one company is not contesting and the other one is,” she said. “Why are they contesting?” Officials at the Philip Services’ office in Camanche referred questions to the company’s attorney, who said the company filed a notice to contest the citations because it does not believe they are valid or appropriately issued. Clark also said the type of work Boles was performing when he died is a major part of Philip Services’ business, and that the company has continued to perform that work. In the OSHA citations, the company is accused of failing to make sure the person in charge of blasting operations at the Wisconsin power plant used every reasonable precaution to ensure the safety of the workers and sounded a loud warning before each blast. Philip Services also faces alleged violations related to safety requirements for the use of explosives, lack of a site-specific respiratory protection program, hazardous work in confined spaces, inadequate emergency rescue services and blood-borne pathogen requirements. OSHA cited Dairyland Power Cooperative with a “willful” violation for failing to follow safety requirements for work in permit-required confined spaces. The alleged “serious” violations dealt with safety requirements, periodic inspections, rescue procedures, blood-borne pathogens, hazard communication training and insufficient updates on a chemical hygiene plan.

UPDATE, Timeliness of inspection cited in sewer accident; Work was nearly finished before assessment, engineers say.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Missouri company that lost two workers in a construction accident last week had been scheduled for a safety inspection last year, but regulators visited the site much later, missing the chance to supervise crews. The Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Administration learned of Insituform Technologies’ sewer project in February 2001, but inspectors didn’t visit the site until Sept. 7, according to a story by The Des Moines Register. By that time, most of the repairs on a mile of the Depression-era sewers had been complete for two months, city engineers said.The oversight calls into question whether state investigators might have identified safety violations earlier and could have prevented last week’s deadly accident. “It might or might not have, depending on a lot of factors, including whether we’d have gone back or not,” said Iowa OSHA administrator Mary Bryant. “There was not even anything which indicated there was a site.” Daniel Grasshoff, 25, and Brian Burford, 19, drowned in sewage after they inhaled hydrogen sulfide fumes, according to autopsies. Five other workers were overcome by the gases when they attempted to rescue the two men. Federal guidelines require most underground work crews to be tethered to the surface while constantly monitoring the air for toxic gases. City engineers said they spotted air monitors, respirators and fresh-air pumps at the scene, but fire officials said none of the tools appeared to have been used. Insituform said the deaths were the first for the company since 1992, when a worker died in Puerto Rico. OSHA inspection records show that the Chesterfield firm has been cited 23 other times since 1986, including two serious violations over the past nine months. In another case, federal inspectors in Boston recommended a $4,500 fine against the sewer repair company last month when a worker in a manhole was seriously burned in an unexpected rush of hot water. Regulators said crews upstream failed to have a communication system in place to warn the worker of the approaching water. Bryant said the company’s recent spate of citations wouldn’t necessarily have made local inspectors more concerned. She said most of her 21 inspectors follow up on complaints and accidents rather than making random visits. “In the scheme of things, with all the variables, two serious violations over the past nine months may not be that much,” Bryant said. Investigators have interviewed officials and seized records from the city engineers’ office, which had awarded three jobs on the east-side sewer repairs to Insituform. Officials said the investigation into last week’s deaths could take months. 

Confined space tragedy on Dumfries farm
Police and the HSE are investigating what is probably a confined space accident which has claimed the lives of two men on a Dumfriesshire farm. Emergency services personnel with breathing apparatus recovered the men on Friday from a 4-metre deep slurry pit. Assistant Divisional Officer Billy McVinnie of Dumfries and Galloway Fire Brigade said: “It was quite a difficult operation given the circumstances and the conditions.”

UPDATE, OSHA investigates death
by GREG RUSSELL and RAY PLACINO, Register Staff Writers
Investigators from the Occupational Safety Hazard Administration (OSHA) weren’t able to say on Thursday what killed Israel Martinez after he passed out in a manhole on E. Highway 82, but they had thoughts on the subject. “Sounded like a confined space entry problem,” said Mike Talmont, acting area director for the Fort Worth OSHA office. Talmont noted that the passing out that preceded Martinez’s death can be common — and it can also be common for someone else to pass out while trying to help, as with what happened to co-worker Gustava Barcones. “They’ll see someone pass out, and instead of trying to determine what happened or why, they’ll go down and try and retrieve them,” Talmont said. “That happens a lot — or used to. We were hoping this would decrease. But apparently not.” Benito Mercado, OSHA safety specialist, and Robin Bonville, OSHA industrial hygienist, were in Gainesville on Thursday afternoon, conducting field tests on manholes on E. Highway 82 — close to the one where Martinez passed out, which was about a mile from Brammer Supply. Wednesday morning, Martinez and Barcones had been in the manhole working on sewer extension lines; the project was part of a contract between the city and B.J. Co. Contractors, their employer. At the scene with OSHA on Thursday was Wayne Clark, co-worker of Martinez and Barcones. Mercado hadn’t finished investigating the evidence and said he couldn’t comment. Nor could he allow close media proximity as he conducted a one-to-one interview with Clark, who called 911 after the men passed out. Barcones, with a few comments in English and some translated from Spanish, said that he feels bad about what finally happened — the death of his co-worker. Donations for Martinez’s funeral are being taken at Mendez Bakery, at 819 S. Clements St. But this morning, Barcones said that he smelled nothing in the manhole, and that it took him some 10 minutes to pass out — while attending to Martinez — and he wasn’t wearing a mask. While Barcones smelled nothing, Talmont went into detail about what tends to be dangerous down in a manhole — odorless or not. “There are several possibilities,” he said. “First thing we check for is oxygen deficiency. Second, combustible gas — sewer and methane, primarily.” Third, Talmont explained, in high temperatures where sewage is present — as it was on Wednesday — hydrogen sulfide can be a by-product. “If we know it contains some chemicals, we’d test for it,” Talmont said. “Normally in a manhole, those are the 3 things we check for.” Also, he pointed out, if the manhole is close to a highway, carbon monoxide can be a strong a factor as anything else. It’s just that OSHA hasn’t finished checking into all this. “It depends on whether we can get a hold of the worker for interviews,” Talmont noted. “It might take a little time to get them … it should go relatively fast. Then we’d contact police, fire and any other emergency (service) that responded first — to see if they had any information.” Tuesday, city of Gainesville director of utilities Ron Sellman said that the manhole had apparently been tested before and after the incident, and that lack of oxygen and sewer gas weren’t a problem. “We checked the manholes in the area (after the injuries); all the oxygen levels in the holes were OK … When we tested the manholes initially, we did not find sewer gas to be a problem, or lack of oxygen,” he said. But Talmont said that though it hasn’t been confirmed yet, sources indicated to him that B.J. Co. Contractors didn’t have a confined space program, and that the area hadn’t been thoroughly tested. The men may or may not have had to wear respirators, he said. “It depends on the situation — to determine what kind of protective (mask) is needed.” Construction projects fall under their own set of safety guidelines, Talmont explained, when asked if; federal regulation codes 1926.03 and 1910.34 standards had been met before Martinez passed out.

Man Dies After Being Pulled From Pipeline

The mystery of why a man passed out in a pipeline Wednesday (7/10/2002) morning has turned into the investigation of his death. Israel Martinez died after being pulled unconscious from a manhole on E. Highway 82, roughly a mile away from Brammer Supply. Martinez’s name was confirmed by  Police Chief Carl Dunlap and Kelly Pulte of his employer, B.J. Co-Contractors. Gustavo Barcones, who reportedly went into the manhole to try to help Martinez and passed out himself, was transported to Gainesville Memorial Hospital. He was termed as being in good condition, and may be released today. Martinez’s death is still a mystery, with asphyxiation a probable but unproven cause.  They await autopsy results, which may not come back for 60 to 90 days. Ron Sellman, city of Gainesville utilities director said, “We have a contract with B.J. Contractors to install sanitary sewer extensions for newly annexed areas.” “And the contract started with B.J. (on) April 1. And their completion date is supposed to be August 28.” But the manhole should have been safe for the men, Sellman explained. “We checked the manholes in the area (after the injuries), all the oxygen levels in the holes were OK,” he said, although a fan was used to blow air into the pipeline during the rescue. Sellman said, “When we tested the manholes initially, we did not find sewer gas to be a problem, or lack of oxygen.”

Update, Sewer accident survivors recuperate, return home

By MAGGIE O’BRIEN, Register Staff Writer
Only one Missouri construction worker injured in a sewer accident remained hospitalized Wednesday. Jim Johnson, 27, of St. Peters, Mo., was listed in good condition Wednesday afternoon at Iowa Methodist Medical Center. The four other injured Insituform Technologies Inc. workers were discharged and on their way home. The St. Louis-area workers – Kent Broz, 32, Mike Walkenhorst, 32, Jim Coffey II, 21, and James “Danny” Brown, 21 – were released Tuesday and Wednesday from area hospitals and flew home with their families on a company plane. Two workers were killed Monday when they drowned in a 15-foot sewer pit on Des Moines’ east side. The workers did not use safety equipment available as noxious chemicals permeated the area, Des Moines city officials said. Insituform employees Daniel Grasshoff, 25, and Brian Burford, 19, were pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities suspect that the workers inadvertently stirred up low-lying hydrogen sulfide, a noxious byproduct of sewage, and fell unconscious from the fumes. They drowned in more than a foot of sewage waste. Co-workers on the surface came to Grasshoff’s and Burford’s aid, but were also stricken as they worked to pull the men out. Other Insituform workers, firefighters and employees at nearby Nesbit Distributing Co., 1901 Dewolf St., rescued five men. Spokeswoman Michele Lucas said Wednesday the company continues to investigate the accident. The survivors of the accident and witnesses would be interviewed at length, she said. None could be reached for comment Wednesday. “We’ll have some meetings in the next couple of days here,” Lucas said. “We haven’t drawn any conclusions yet.” Lucas said workers are coping with the tragedy. “It’s pretty emotional for everyone,” she said. Services for Grasshoff, of St. Charles, Mo., will be Friday. He became engaged this year to Jennifer Ann Rath and the couple planned to marry next summer. Rath did not return a phone call seeking comment. Burford, of Lemay, Mo., was enrolled at the University of Missouri in Rolla in the freshman engineering program. He joined a fraternity and often worked out-of-state jobs during the summers. Funeral arrangements are pending. Company officials based in Chesterfield, Mo., said it is standard procedure for crews to use safety harnesses in subterranean jobs because of the dangerous gases. Rescuers said the workers had only hard hats and lights with them in the pit. Federal guidelines call for a number of safeguards at underground construction sites. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration says workers in confined spaces more than 5 feet deep must be in constant contact with workers on the surface and tethered by lifelines that can pull them to safety at a moment’s notice. City engineers who periodically monitor the progress of the sewer rehabilitation project said the job seemed to be going off without a hitch. Insituform is finishing a $5.8 million contract with the city to repair sewer lines. Iowa OSHA officials were called to the scene late Monday. The agency is serving as the lead investigator into the deaths and continued its inquiry Wednesday. Administrator Mary Bryant said Wednesday the investigation could take three months to complete. If OSHA determines that Insituform willfully ignored safety procedures, investigators could ask the Polk County attorney to file a misdemeanor charge against workers responsible for the lapse. Federal OSHA officials have cited Insituform Technologies with 23 health and safety violations since 1986, including two serious violations over the past nine months, officials said. Those two violations resulted in nearly $6,000 in fines for safety lapses at job sites in St. Paul, Minn., and Boston. OSHA officials, who declined to give details of the past Insituform investigations, said a serious violation exists when a workplace hazard has the potential to cause an accident or illness that could result in death or serious physical harm, but the employer is not aware of the problem. A company can be fined up to $7,000 for each violation.

UPDATE, Rescuers: Safety tools weren’t used

Two workers were not using safety equipment available at the scene Monday when they drowned in more than a foot of watery sewage as noxious chemicals permeated the area, Des Moines city officials said Tuesday. Inspectors with the city’s engineering department said they had seen air monitors, fresh-air pumps and two-way radios at the east-side site where Insituform Technologies was completing repairs on five miles of a deteriorating sewer system. Company officials based in Chesterfield, Mo., said it’s standard procedure for its crews to use the safety tools in subterranean jobs because of the dangerous gases produced by sewage. But rescuers who pulled workers out of a 15-foot pit Monday afternoon said the two men who died, dressed in jeans and T-shirts, had only hard hats and lights in the oxygen-short environment. “To my knowledge, there were not any respiration devices provided,” said Acting Fire Chief Doug Rubin. “By the time we were able to pull them to the surface, too much time had elapsed to revive life.” The crew’s foreman, Kent Broz, said from his hospital bed Tuesday that the breathing devices were not used because the workers thought the site was safe and adequately ventilated. Daniel Grasshoff, 25, and Brian Burford, 19, Insituform employees from the St. Louis area, were pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities suspect that the workers inadvertently stirred up low-lying hydrogen sulfide, a noxious byproduct of sewage, and fell unconscious from the fumes. Co-workers on the surface came to Grasshoff’s and Burford’s aid, but were also stricken as they worked to pull the men out. The co-workers, firefighters and employees at nearby Nesbit Distributing Co., 1901 Dewolf St., rescued five Insituform workers. “All your training says, “Don’t go in,” ” said Jeff Hansen, a city of Des Moines project manager overseeing the sewer project. “But the human side says, “That’s your buddy.” I have a feeling that’s what happened” when the co-workers went in after the first two men. Federal guidelines call for a number of safeguards at underground construction sites, but some of those guidelines were apparently not followed, city officials said. According to rules set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, workers in confined spaces more than 5 feet deep must be in constant contact with workers on the surface and tethered by lifelines that can pull them to safety at a moment’s notice. Officials with the Des Moines Fire Department and Polk County medical examiner’s office said neither Grasshoff nor Burford appeared to have been hooked to a harness or ankle strap. City inspectors said the harnesses would have been difficult to wear if the workers were walking through the 5-foot-high sewers. Hansen said a foreman told him that Grasshoff and Burford had collapsed after returning from a trip through the concrete structure. Officials with the medical examiner’s office said they splashed face-down into 1 to 2 feet of standing water and sewage. “From what they tell me, the two guys had just walked 100 feet down the line,” Hansen said. “They were standing in the open-air pit talking when this took place.” OSHA guidelines call for the use of constant air monitoring and fresh-air pumps that can immediately infuse a hole with oxygen. Fire crews said they discovered an air monitor at the site, but it wasn’t clear whether it had simply been used prior to the workers’ entrance. City engineers who periodically monitor the progress of the $9 million sewer rehabilitation project said the job seemed to be going off without a hitch. While city officials said they aren’t responsible for ensuring contractors” safety, they said they never noticed deficiencies in Insituform’s procedures. “These guys were well-trained professionals. They weren’t in their swimsuits diving into the sewers,” said senior construction inspector Chester Van Buskirk. Iowa OSHA officials officially were called to the scene late Monday. The agency is serving as the lead investigator into the deaths. “Essentially, what we’re looking for are violations of OSHA standards that may have contributed to the accident,” said administrator Mary Bryant. “If it’s determined that (the pit) is a confined space, we’ll be looking at what kind of training they had, air monitoring, personal protection and ventilation.” If OSHA determines that Insituform willfully ignored safety procedures, investigators could ask the Polk County attorney to file a criminal misdemeanor against workers responsible for the lapse. Insituform spokeswoman Michele Lucas said top company officials were interviewing those of the 15 workers in Des Moines who were not injured in the accident. Lucas said the company has an excellent safety record and is baffled by the incident. “We don’t want to point any fingers right now,” she said. “We’re trying to get the facts and find out what went wrong.” Federal OSHA officials have cited the company with 23 health and safety violations since 1986, including two serious violations over the past nine months, officials said. Those two violations resulted in nearly $6,000 in fines for safety lapses at job sites in St. Paul, Minn., and Boston. OSHA officials were unable to provide details on the incidents. Insituform employs 1,500 workers on sewer and pipe projects across the country and in western Europe. Company officials said their last worker fatality occurred in Puerto Rico in 1992. Steve Spangler, an OSHA-trained safety manager for Scheck Mechanical Corp. in Countryside, Ill., said even well-trained crews can get lackadaisical about safety procedures. “These firms may do 100 of those things, and maybe in two or three of them, there’s gas present,” Spangler said. “A lot of times, they will just depend on fellows saying, “Hey, it smells like rotten eggs down here.” Crews that work like that are going to run into situations where they find guys at the bottom of a pit, as sad as that is.” Hydrogen sulfide gives off a scent of rotten eggs, but the chemical also deadens a person’s ability to identify the scent for long. Spangler said a four-gas monitor typically used in sewer projects would have detected the toxin in time for workers to respond.

 

2 Workers Dead, Firefighters Among 10 Injured From Sewer Gas

GIGI WOOD, Associated Press Writer

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A sewer pipe ruptured Monday at a construction site, killing two workers and injuring 10 others, fire officials said. Fire officials said the workers likely suffocated because the toxic sewer gas deprived them of oxygen. The workers were in a 16-foot trench at an industrial area on the east side of Des Moines. Acting Fire Chief Doug Rubin said they had climbed down a ladder to get on a platform when they were overcome by fumes. Some fell into the water. “When they went down in the hole, they go down with hardhats and lights, not necessarily any breathing equipment,” Rubin said. “This is something they do all the time. This is obviously an oddity, what happened today.” Hydrogen sulfide gas is produced by the decomposition of organic materials such as sewage, said Assistant Chief James Mason said. “These workers were likely not overcome by the gas; however, a lack of oxygen caused them to go unconscious” he said. He said both victims were found in the water at the bottom of the pit. Five of the injured were firefighters; four of them were taken to a hospital where they were treated and released. Conditions on the others weren’t immediately available. City officials said the two dead workers were employed by Insituform Technologies Inc., a company specializing in the repair of city sewers. “This is a tragedy for all of us,” said Tony Hooper, president and chief executive of Insituform, based in the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield. “We have to figure out what went wrong at the job site to make sure this doesn’t happen again.” Bill Stowe, city public works manager, said the workers were placing a plastic resin into the sewer pipe. The resin solidifies and becomes a new pipe inside the old pipe.

Department Incident Media Release-LIEUTENANT LINDA FRANGENBERG
Des Moines Fire Department Media Release

Des Moines firefighters responded to a 911 call which reported workers down in a sewer line. The incident took place at 1901 DeWolf, Des Moines, Iowa at 2:22 PM today. First arriving firefighters reported (5) workers down and in need of assistance in the sewer line. Further investigation revealed that a private company had been repairing a sewer line in the City of Des Moines when (2) of its employees were overcome and became unconscious. Five additional employees attempted to rescue their downed co-workers and also were overcome. Firefighters were able to rescue the five employees that attempted to help their fellow co-workers. These five victims were transported to area hospitals. Their conditions are unknown at this. The initial two workers were pronounced dead at the scene. Assistant Chief James Mason reported, “It appears that the two workers had been working in an area of the sewer line that had water in its base. This water had been stirred which emitted hydrogen sulfide gas. Hydrogen sulfide is a naturally occurring gas that is produced by the decomposition of organic materials (sewage). Hydrogen sulfide gas is heavier than air and displaces oxygen from the air. These workers were likely not overcome by the gas; however, a lack of oxygen caused them to go unconscious. Both victims were found lying in the water at the bottom of the pit.” Both of the department’s Hazardous Materials teams, three engine companies, one ladder company, seven medic units, two District Chiefs, and additional command staff personnel responded to the scene. Five Des Moines firefighters were also transported to the hospital. Four of those firefighters were evaluated for exposure and have since been treated and released. The fifth firefighter is being treated for a heat related injury.

 

Woman Rescued from 30-foot Hole

Associated Press

Rescuers used equipment to lift a 50-year-old woman from a 30-foot-deep hole that she fell into at a construction project near Bonney Lake, Wash. — east of Tacoma. The woman was a flagger at the construction site, where South Prairie Road was being widened. The hole reportedly had been dug for a piling for the project. The accident happened about 4 p.m. Monday afternoon.

 

Crews Rescue Man Trapped In Hole

Emergency crews rescued a landscaper in Orlando who became stuck in a hole Monday, according to Local 6 News. The man was reportedly behind the Mall At Millenia when he apparently fell into a hole and became trapped. The landscaper suffered possible head and back injuries and is in stable condition, according to Local 6 News . He was tranported to a local hospital. A worker who attempted to rescue the man was also injured, according to Local 6 News. Officials are investigating the cause of the accident. Watch Local 6 News for the latest on this breaking news story.

 

Fatal accident at Peterhead harbour
A fire on board a North Sea oil industry support vessel, Far Service, has claimed the life of one worker. It is reported that he was cleaning out the vessel’s tanks, but following an outbreak of fire his body was recovered from the ship’s accommodation block. It is understood he was employed by Enviroco who were contracted to carry out the tank cleaning operations.

 

Shipyard Worker Rescued From Tug Boat

A man learning to cut holes in a ship had to be cut out by rescuers Tuesday morning after he fell and hurt himself. Jacksonville Fire-Rescue’s special operations crew had to rescue the injured worker from inside the double hull of a tug boat when he fell and injured his back and ribs. The man was training how to cut holes in the steel vessel at shipyards on Adams Street. The rescue operation took less than five minutes. The worker is reported to be in good condition with pain in his lower back, but no broken bones.

Man was submerged 2 hours in fertilizer
The Times-Picayune, By Tara Young; Staff writer
A New Orleans man was pulled from 100 tons of potash fertilizer, a quicksand-like mixture, after being submerged up to his mouth for more than two hours Monday, authorities said. After being rescued Broderick Mayaux, 31, thrust his right fist into the air and apologized for falling through the roof of the boxcar holding the fertilizer. Mayaux was listed in fair condition at Charity Hospital after being rescued by New Orleans firefighters who used electric saws to cut through the steel walls of the boxcar to relieve pressure building around him. After the fertilizer began flowing from the boxcar, firefighters built a makeshift box of plywood around the man until they could dig him out , said Gregory Davis, New Orleans Fire Department spokesman. “The guys worked hard,” Davis said. “They had to physically shovel the stuff around him. He sunk all the way down. They put a breathing apparatus on him to keep him from suffocating.” Mayaux works for Downsouth Transfer Co., which is subcontracting with the Claiborne railroad yard in the 9th Ward, a railyard spokesman said. Marion Deville, owner of Downsouth Transfer, said Mayaux, himself and another man were transferring the fertilizer from one boxcar to another. Deville said he did not know why Mayaux was on top of the boxcar when the chutes are located at the bottom. One of the workers didn’t realize Mayaux had fallen in and was still moving the fertilizer when Deville heard Mayaux screaming. When the men found him, Mayaux was almost completely submerged. Deville said he and a worker began removing handfuls of fertilizer from around Mayaux’s head. “It’s just one of those things that you don’t think would happen,” Deville said. “Thank God he’s alive.”

4 Killed by Sludge Fumes at Dye Factory

Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan

A worker who fell into an underground sludge tank and three colleagues who tried to help him died, apparently from toxic fumes, at a dye factory in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, on Monday morning, the police and firefighters said. Two other workers who also tried to help in the accident at the factory operated by Pyramid, a Japanese textile company, managed to escape to safety and are being treated at a hospital, the authorities said. Hydrogen sulfide gas was detected near the site after the accident, which occurred at around 10 a.m. during an operation to clean the tank, the authorities said. The tank is about 3 meters by 2 meters and about 10 meters deep, they said. According to the company, the first worker began to clean the tank at 9 a.m. Monday and was scheduled to finish at 11 a.m. The company’s main business is to develop textiles for industrial use.

Four Workers Die After Inhaling Poisonous Gas

Ghaziabad, India

Four workers, three of them brothers, died and two others fell seriously ill after inhailing poisonous gas while cleaning manholes in an Indian factory.  The workers fell unconscious when water and gas leaked through the walls of one of manholes of Shila Foam factory Sunday night. They were rushed to Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital in Delhi where four of them were declared brought dead while the condition of two was stated to be serious, police said. A case of negligence has been registered against the contractor who had employed the victims on daily wages, they added.

 

Man Dies Rescuing Co-Worker in North Bay

By The PIXPage Staff

A rescue attempt turned deadly for a worker in Petaluma Thursday. But officials aren’t sure which of the two dead employees tried to save the other. The men were found at the bottom of 12-foot tall tank, used to process organic oils at a natural foods plant called Spectrum Naturals.”It appears that one of the employees was actually in the tank cleaning it,” said Petaluma Fire Marshall Michael Ginn. “They use argon gas as part of their process, which is an asphyxiant. It appears that he was overcome by the gas. Another employee who saw him go in attempted a rescue, and then he became a victim.” Firefighters had to pump oxygen into the tank before they could pull the men out. The tank was used to process flax seed oil for organic foods and supplements.

Rising Sun man rescued from grain bin now in fair condition

By Chandra L. Mattingly, Staff Reporter, April 24, 2002

Shawn Horstman, 28, Rising Sun, was in fair condition Tuesday morning, April 23, at University of Cincinnati Hospital, according to hospital public relations senior consultant Patty Holiday. University Air Care transported the Rising Sun man to the hospital after he spent over two hours trapped in a grain bin at Consolidated Grain and Barge, 210 George St. , Aurora , Monday afternoon, April 22. Horstman, a panel operator employed about 1 1/2 years at the grain storage and barge terminal business, got his foot caught in a conveyor inside a 25,000 bushel storage bin, said manager Scott Perkins. “We were just cleaning a bin. He just stepped off into one of the discharge holes,” said Perkins. Employees always work in pairs or small groups when inside the grain bins. Two employees with Horstman immediately called for help after the 4:15 p.m. (DST, fast time) accident, said Perkins. Horstman, who was not covered with grain, was conscious throughout the two hours it took Aurora police, fire department and emergency rescue personnel to free him, said Aurora Fire Department Public Information Office Kevin Turner. Taken to Taylor Field on the north side of U.S. 50 by Aurora Emergency Rescue, Horstman was transported in “non-life-threatening condition, stable condition” to University Hospital , Cincinnati , said Turner. AirCare took off at 6:40 p.m. , according to Aurora Police Department records. Aurora patrolman Dana Cotton, one of the first on the scene, said Horstman’s foot was wedged tightly in the channel containing the conveyor belt. Rescuers were most concerned not to further injure the trapped man. “We had to basically dismantle the whole system to get him out,” said Cotton. Rescuers used handtools, pry bars acetylene torches and other tools to free Horstman. Firefighters stood by with a water hose attached to a pumper because rescuers were concerned about producing “a lot of sparks around that dust,” said Cotton. Most of the tools used are carried by the fire department and Aurora Emergency Rescue, said Turner, including air chisels, pry bars, breathing apparatus. Cotton said breathing apparatus was provided for Horstman throughout the rescue, and he was given pain medicine in the final stages. About 20 to 25 people were involved. Dearborn County Sheriff’s Department provided assistance at Taylor Field, where AirCare landed on blacktop recently installed in the Waterways Park expansion there. Perkins said employee injuries are not common at Consolidated Grain’s Aurora facility, where employees had gone about 1,200 days, well over three years, without an injury. “We work hard at our safety program,” he said.

UPDATE, Worker: Safety rules ignored – Monadnock High blast injured 3

3-28-02, By GREG COFFEY for SentinelSource

SWANZEY CENTER — A failure to follow safety protocols may have led to last week’s explosion at Monadnock Regional Junior-Senior High School, a school-district maintenance worker claims. The explosion injured three maintenance workers, all of whom are still out of work, recovering from their injuries. The workers were fixing a pipe on a water tank in a concrete pit in the southwestern part of the building. The blast was caused when one of the workers lit a torch, which ignited propane gas that had seeped into the pit. The gas had leaked from a cracked pipe that ran through the ground near the pit. The blast occurred shortly after an evening concert last Thursday at the school. No one else was injured. School was closed Friday and reopened Monday. The explosion was preceded by a series of safety violations that should have been addressed by school district officials, said Art Cable, a Monadnock Regional School District maintenance worker. “When it looks good, (school district officials) are safety-conscious. When it suits their needs, they’re not,” Cable said. Too many men were in the 6-by-6-foot pit at the time of the blast, and no one was standing above the entrance to help get them out in case of an accident, Cable said. Further, Cable said, maintenance workers were warned at a training seminar last year that a gas meter should always be used to detect gas in confined spaces before work is started. Michael Pratt, one of the injured workers, said the school district shares a gas meter with the Swanzey Fire Department. “In most cases, there’s no need (to check for gas) because we don’t go into a lot of confined spaces,” Pratt said. “It just happened to be a real freak thing.” The seminar also stressed the need for safety equipment in confined spaces, such as an A-frame, Cable said. An A-frame is a contraption that sits above the opening of a confined space, and has a set of pulleys attached. A rope is attached to the worker who enters the space. If that worker is injured, he can quickly be raised from the space using the pulleys, Cable said. The explosion is being investigated by the N.H. Department of Labor, said Cynthia A. Flynn, administrator for the department’s inspection division. The department routinely investigates any accident involving public workers, Flynn said. The department has completed its investigation, but has not completed its report. The report will first go to school district officials, and then will be made public, most likely early next week, Flynn said. Until then, Flynn would not comment on the investigation. School district officials met Wednesday to further discuss the incident, said Barry N. Fowler, the school district’s director of building and grounds. Fowler would not comment Cable’s allegations, but said the district has “very specific training and guidelines.” Superintendent Curtis J. Cardine could not be reached for comment by press time.

Steam Flash at Power Plant Injures Workers

Two men were transported to the hospital following an explosion at the Zimmer Power Plant in Moscow , OH Wednesday ( 3/20/2002 ) afternoon. The plant is owned by Cinergy. Cinergy spokesman Dave Woodburn said that the injury was caused by a “steam flash.” Woodburn said that the accident occurred when workers were “de-slagging” inside a boiler — a process where excess coal is removed from the sides of the boiler. Woodburn said that a large chunk of the coal dropped to the ground, gathered water, and caused the steam flash. WLWT Eyewitness News 5’s Todd Dykes reported that one of the workers suffered first and second degree burns on his face, neck, arms and legs. He’s in stable condition at a local hospital. The other worker did not suffer any visible burns, and was taken to the hospital as a precaution, Dykes reported. The plant converts coal combustion waste to gypsum.

UPDATE, Welders Died By Suffocation In Feed Silo
By Angela Leonard, Editor

ELKIN — The two men who were trapped under chicken feed Thursday at Wayne Farms Feed Mill on N.C. 268 died from suffocation, preliminary autopsy reports show. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is investigating the deaths. Two employees of the Silver Lake Welding Service, Inc., of Dayton , Va. , — Justin Mines, 19, of Harrisonburg , Va. , and Randy Carpenter, 48, of Dayton — were sucked under chicken feed while trying to repair a feed silo. The accident happened around 10:30 a.m. The men were trapped under the grain for more than three hours before emergency workers could free the bodies. “When rescue workers arrived, they saw that one person was visible at the chute end of the grain bin,” John Shelton, EMS supervisor for Surry County said. Rescue workers said Carpenter’s leg was visible in the chute and had stopped the flow of grain. Mines was above Carpenter, but beneath the grain. Shelton said the chicken feed was about 12 feet deep inside the 40-foot silo when the accident occurred. The two were standing on the chicken feed, patching inside the silo. “They had climbed into the silo on a ladder,” Shelton said. “They disconnected from their safety harnesses. While they attempted to do work on the silo, a truck pulled up and started to load.” The men were sucked down with the feed as the truck was being filled. Workers at the feed mill tried to rescue Mines and Carpenter before emergency workers arrived. “Once this occurred, one of the supervisors tried to rescue the two,” Shelton said. “He rappelled into the silo and tried unsuccessfully to get the feed away from their faces. The grain is like quicksand, the more you move the quicker you sink.” Wayne Farms has operated the feed mill on N.C. 268 for 22 years. Paul Nordin, complex manager at the Wayne Farms plant, said it has been five years since the last accident that resulted in lost time. Nordin said this is the first fatal accident at the feed mill. The feed mill makes chicken feed pellets from corn and soy. Emergency workers from Surry EMS, Dobson and Elkin rescue squads and South Surry , C.C. Camp and State Road fire departments responded.

UPDATE, Catalogue of failures led to deaths
Dundee Sheriff Richard Davidson has delivered a scathing criticism of the inadequate safety procedures, training and working practices which resulted in the deaths of two workers on the Glomar Arctic 1V. Richard King, 56, from South Tyneside , and Roland Duffell, 40, of Northumberland, died in an explosion within a confined space on board the rig undergoing maintenance work in Dundee harbour in July 1998. Sheriff Davidson delivered his scathing remarks at the rig operators Glomar Arctic and the men’s employers McGregor Energy Services Limited, and included workmen on the rig and their supervision. Avoidable Sheriff Davidson concluded the men’s deaths could have been prevented had there not taken place a catalogue of failures to observe the rig and employer’s own, and each other’s, recommended working practices. These included:

· a failure to meet legislative requirement;

· a failure to understand the risks associated with working in a confined space into which two flammable gases were introduced;

· McGregor Energy Services did not ensure the adequate instruction and supervision of personnel carrying out this activity;

· a lack of constant gas monitoring;

· no plan for emergencies;

· no fire precautions such as fire fighting equipment;

· inadequate escape routes;

· inadequate means of communication with personnel on the rig deck;

· inadequately trained and instructed supervision; and

· gas hoses carrying flammable gases were exposed to heat damage from molten metal and were left in the confined spaces during non-working periods, and were inadequately repaired

Piper Alpha: Drawing upon lessons learned after the Piper Alpha tragedy Sheriff Davidson remarked upon: “…two major participants in the North Sea oil industry, such as GA and MESL, appear to have paid little more than superficial attention to Lord Cullen’s report. It would be valuable if senior management of both companies were to read Lord Cullen’s report now and act in light of its recommendations.”

Company fined $5,000 after worker poisoned by carbon monoxide

Pacifica Seafoods Limited has been fined $5,000 after being prosecuted by the Occupational Safety & Health Service (OSH). The company were sentenced yesterday at the Christchurch District Court. “Workers had been cleaning in a chiller, when one collapsed and was taken to hospital,” said Margaret Radford, Service Manager of OSH Canterbury – West Coast Region.“Later that day another worker complained to his supervisor of a bad headache. He was also taken to hospital, and a blood test revealed that he had carbon monoxide poisoning. “A forklift powered by LPG had been transporting large bags of mussels in the chiller, during the earlier part of the evening. “The chiller was a large enclosed space, and had no means of ventilation with fresh air, other than natural ventilation through the doors. With no means of clearing the exhaust fumes from the LPG forklift, carbon monoxide levels built up. “Usually an electric forklift was used in the chiller, but the machine could not be used this particular evening because it required repairs. An alternative safe means of lifting and transporting bags of mussels within the chiller was not used. “This prosecution should serve to warn employers of the dangers of operating combustion engine forklifts in poorly ventilated areas,” said Ms Radford. “Fortunately, the victim did not suffer any lasting ill effect from this incident.”“There have been a number of incidents in recent years where workers have been taken to hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning. “The hazards of operating combustion engine forklifts in poorly ventilated areas, such as chillers and holds of ships, should be well known to industry. The best solution is to eliminate the hazard completely, and use only electric forklifts in such areas.” For further information: Margaret Radford, Service Manager, OSH , Canterbury – West Coast Region Tel: 03 365 2600  Mobile 025 278 1834 Madeleine Setchell, Business Adviser-Public Relations, OSH , Wellington . Tel: 04 915 4390  Mobile : 025 463 538

2 workers die in grain bin; Virginia men were repairing silo

Two maintenance workers from a Rockingham County company died in North Carolina Thursday after they were accidentally pulled into stored grain. Justin C. Mines, 19, apparently died trying to rescue his co-worker, 48-year-old Randy Carpenter. The two had been working on a grain silo in Surry County, N.C., which is just across the state line from Patrick County. Mines, of Harrisonburg, and Carpenter, of Dayton, were sucked into 12 feet of grain, said John Shelton, director of Surry County Emergency Services. The two were employees of Dayton-based Silver Lake Welding Service. The silo was on the property of Wayne Farms Poultry Co. in the southwestern part of Surry County just east of Elkin, N.C., Shelton said. A spokesman for Silver Lake declined to comment about the two, citing ongoing investigations by federal and North Carolina authorities. The accident happened around 10:30 a.m. Thursday, as Mines and Carpenter were trying to make welding repairs to the interior of the silo. Other workers at the site had been unable to open the chute at the bottom of the bin to release the remaining grain, Shelton said. The two men lowered themselves into the silo secured on harnesses so they could start the repairs with the grain still in the bin. They eventually unstrapped their harnesses, Shelton said. The driver of a truck, unaware that the two were in the silo, pulled into the grain chute and released the feed through the funnel at the bottom of the silo – sinking Carpenter, then Mines – Shelton said. “It pulled [Carpenter] into the grain with the consistency of quicksand,” Shelton said. “[Mines] attempted to rescue [his co-worker] and was also swirled into the grain.” One maintenance worker rappelled into the bin to try to rescue the two but to no avail. Others then began a frantic effort to cut Mines and Carpenter out of the chute with blow torches, Shelton said. Rescue workers and firefighters arrived on the scene during the cutting but weren’t able to get to the trapped workers until about three hours later, which was too late, he said.

UPDATE, WORKER’S DEATH IN EXPLOSION LEADS TO OSHA FINES FOR IOWA AND WISCONSIN FIRMS

EAU CLAIRE, WIS. – A company’s failure to ensure the safe handling of binary explosives that resulted in the death of a worker at the J. P. Madgett Power Generation Station in Alma, Wis., has led to citations by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The proposed penalties total $227,850. OSHA issued citations to two companies that alleged willful, serious, and other-than-serious safety and health violations after the fatal explosion last August. Philip Services/North Central Inc., based in Camanche, Iowa, was issued proposed penalties of $133,350 and Dairyland Power Cooperative in Alma was issued proposed penalties of $94,500. Philip Services/North Central Inc., under contract with Dairyland Power Cooperative, was responsible for cleaning the inside of the boiler through the use of explosives, grit, or hydro blasting. The fatal explosion occurred when a binary explosive charge was detonated while in the possession of a Philip Services/North Central Inc. employee. “This tragedy could have been prevented if safety requirements had been followed,” said Charles Burin, OSHA area director in Eau Claire, Wis. “A failure to take adequate precautions before detonating explosives was a significant factor in this fatal explosion.” OSHA issued a willful citation to Philip Services/North Central Inc. for failing to follow safety procedures for blasting operations. The alleged serious citations were related to safety requirements for the use of explosives, lack of a site-specific respiratory protection program, hazardous work in confined spaces, inadequate emergency rescue services, inadequate procedures for group lockout/tagout, and bloodborne pathogen requirements. OSHA issued a willful citation to Dairyland Power Cooperative for failing to follow safety requirements for work in permit-required confined spaces. The alleged serious violations related to safety requirements for lockout/tagout, periodic inspections, rescue procedures, bloodborne pathogens, hazard communication training, and insufficient updates on a chemical hygiene plan. The companies have 15 working days from the receipt of the citations to contest the citations and proposed penalties with the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission or to request an informal conference with the area director. (Note to the Editor: A summary of alleged OSHA violations is attached to this news release.) SUMMARY OF OSHA CITATIONS

A willful citation issued by OSHA to Philip Services/North Central Inc. alleged:

that the person-in-charge of blasting operations did not use every reasonable precaution to ensure the safety of the workmen; and

that a loud warning was not given before each blast by the person-in-charge after ensuring the safety of all members of the crew.

Serious citations issued to Philip Services/North Central Inc. allege the company:

failed to secure explosives or blasting agents;

failed to follow process safety management requirements related to the manufacture of binary explosives;

failed to establish and implement a site-specific respiratory protection program;

failed to evaluate confined spaces for permit requirement;

failed to debrief the host employer after work in permit-required confined spaces;

failed to evaluate the hazards of confined spaces;

failed to provide protection for confined space entrants from external hazards;

failed to monitor the conditions inside a confined space during entry;

failed to provide necessary communication equipment;

failed to ensure the use of rescue equipment;

failed to provide an attendant;

failed to designate persons who were to have active roles in entry operations;

failed to develop and implement procedures for summoning rescue and emergency services;

failed to evaluate a rescuer’s ability to respond;

failed to ensure the protection of each individual during group lockout/tagout;

failed to inform the host employer of their lockout procedures; and

failed to comply with certain bloodborne pathogen requirements.

OSHA issued a willful citation to Dairyland Power Cooperative alleging:

that the hazards of permit required confined spaces were not identified, evaluated, and passed on to their subcontractors; and

practices and procedures were not developed and implemented for safe entry into confined spaces.

Serious citations issued to Dairyland Power Cooperative allege the company:

failed to follow requirements for lockout/tagout such as ensuring the protection of each authorized employee during group lockout procedures and conducting periodic inspections;

failed to debrief contractors after permit required confined space entry;

failed to develop and implement rescue procedures;

failed to evaluate rescue services;

failed to properly complete entry permits;

failed to follow certain requirements relating to bloodborne pathogens;

failed to provide hazard communication training; and

failed to update and review their chemical hygiene plan.

Fumes kill Denton County worker

By PATRICK McGEE, Star-Telegram Staff Writer

A construction worker died and another was seriously injured Wednesday afternoon when they were overcome by carbon monoxide fumes inside a manhole, fire officials said. One worker fell into the manhole after he was overcome by the fumes of a gasoline-powered pump he was using to pump water out of a manhole, Battalion Chief Greg Taylor said. Another worker who called for help and went in to rescue him and was also overcome by the fumes. A firefighter pulled both of them out, Taylor said. The first man who fell in died, and the other was taken to Harris Methodist Fort Worth hospital by helicopter, Taylor said. The men’s identities are not yet known. The accident occured at about 1 p.m. near Old Alton Bridge which crosses Hickory Creek in an unincorporated area of Denton County. The men were employees of Mid Continent Excavation Inc., which is building a wastewater pipeline for the Upper Trinty Regional Water District.

Two injured in industrial accident at Lowe’s site

February 14, 2002, By Lance Martin, Herald Staff Writer

GARYSBURG – The first construction accident at the Lowe’s warehouse project left two men injured Tuesday morning. Munsrail Baskerville, 25, of Norlina, sustained a fractured leg and 50-year-old Jesus Loera, of Stem, complained of general body pain, said Paul Nowell, commander of the Roanoke Valley Rescue Squad. The men were installing a 1,000-pound water valve when the accident occurred. The valve was secured to a backhoe and was being lowered into a 6-by-10 concrete meter vault when it broke loose from the equipment, Nowell said. The men are employees of H&G Rentals of Henderson. The valve struck Baskerville in the leg. Nowell said when rescue squad members arrived, Baskerville’s leg was bleeding and appeared to be fractured. Before entering the vault, rescue workers used air monitors to check the safety of the atmosphere. “We made sure there was no toxic fumes. There was no electricity going to it. There was no danger to rescue squad members,” Nowell said. Rescue workers entered the vault and bandaged Baskerville’s leg. They lifted him out in a Stoke’s basket and transported him to a waiting ambulance. He was taken to Halifax Regional Medical Center in Roanoke Rapids. Loera was carried on a long board and placed in another ambulance. He was also taken to HRMC. Baskerville was listed in good condition this morning and was scheduled to have surgery. Loera was treated and released. Nowell said the 10:48 a.m. accident was the first at the Lowe’s construction site. Lowe’s announced plans to build in Northampton County May 29 of last year after putting the finishing touches on an agreement for a $60 million distribution center. The distribution center, which may help bring a Lowe’s retail center to the area, will ultimately create 600 to 800 jobs. Sixty percent must be filled with low to moderate income people. Construction on the warehouse continues and the wall structures are complete and the roof is nearing completion. Paving of the road leading to the center should begin in March. Lowe’s plans to move into the old Gaston Middle School in the next 60 to 90 days. The company will use the school for temporary space for logistics and personnel operations.

Blast in Manhole Injures 8 Workers

By ELENA GAONA, TIMES STAFF WRITER

An explosion in an underground vault injured eight city workers in the Westlake area Wednesday morning. The Department of Water and Power employees, all men, were about to start working on a cable in the 200 block of North Vermont Avenue when the explosion occurred about 10:35 a.m., said Gale Harris, a DWP spokeswoman. Four workers were inside the manhole and four were on the street, Harris said. The explosion occurred when someone underground touched the cable they were about to begin working on, she said. “They were testing an underground cable line and apparently it was still energized and that caused the explosion,” Harris said. Fumes also might have triggered the explosion, fire officials said. “It was determined to be a … fire that flashes from fumes,” said Jim Wells, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman. When firefighters arrived, there were no flames, but smoke was coming from the vault, he said. Five of the workers suffered minor injuries and were treated at hospitals, Harris said, but three were taken to Grossman Burn Center in Sherman Oaks. Jeff Hanson, 37, of Santa Clarita suffered second- and third-degree burns to the side of his face and his ears and hands. He was in stable condition, said burn center spokesman Larry Weinberg. Earle Hough, 36, of Littlerock suffered minor burns to his face and hands and was in fair condition. David Ybarra, 37, of Hacienda Heights suffered smoke inhalation and burns to his face, ears and shoulder. He was in fair condition, Weinberg said. Harris said the department is still seeking to pinpoint the cause of the explosion. The blast cut electrical power to more than 1,700 residential and a dozen commercial customers, Harris said. Crews were working late Wednesday night to restore power, she said.

Two die in Kuwait petrochemical plant accident

KUWAIT, Feb 13 (Reuters) – Two foreign workers were killed in an accident at a Kuwait Petrochemicals Co urea plant, newspapers reported on Wednesday. The men, an Indian and a Turkish national, died on Tuesday of suffocation while doing maintenance work at the state-owned plant at Shuaiba refinery, the newspapers said, giving varying accounts of what caused the accident. Late last month an explosion killed four people and damaged major crude oil and gas production facilities in northern Kuwait. ((Kuwait newsroom, +965 240 8945, fax +965 241 2459, [email protected] ))

Explosion Kills Chemical Plant Worker Performing Maintenance

Geismar, LA, United States, 2/12/2002- 7:00 AM

An explosion and flash fire at a Shell Chemical Co. plant killed one worker, authorities said. The blast occurred Tuesday (2/12/2002) morning while several employees were cleaning out a container as part of routine maintenance, said Shell spokesman Noel Wheeler. Gregory Gibson, 40, of Gonzales, died later of injuries at a Gonzales hospital. He had worked for the company for four years, Wheeler said. An investigation was being conducted by the company and Louisiana State Police, Wheeler said.

UPDATE, Hearing reopens into ammo-ship fire that killed Florida man

The Associated Press

WILMINGTON, N.C. – Video shown at a new hearing into the cause of a fatal fire on an ammunition ship showed a clogged fuel pipe, but it hasn’t been determined if overflow from the pipe caused the fire. The Coast Guard reopened its hearing Tuesday into the fire that killed two crewmen last summer aboard the Sgt. Edward A. Carter Jr., a 950-foot vessel. The fire broke out while the ship was docked at Sunny Point Military Ocean Terminal near Southport. Twenty people were aboard at the time. Paul Powell, 35, of St. Petersburg, Fla., and Horace Beasely, 45, of Gretna, Va., were killed. Coast Guard investigator Lt. Cmdr. Rick Raksnis said he reopened the hearing, which had concluded in August, after receiving new evidence. A report is expected by the end of March. Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer John Gonzales, an investigator with the Marine Safety Office of Hampton Roads, Va., showed video from a small camera showing pipes lined with chalky debris and dark-colored residue believed to be heavy fuel oil. One of the vent lines also was blocked by debris about 14 feet into the pipe. The clogged pipe may have forced fuel into overflow vent lines, Gonzales said. But investigators have not said if that caused the fire. During the earlier hearing, several experts testified that the fire may have ignited from fuel leaking onto an insulated boiler. A witness with the Marine Safety Lab in Groton, Conn., said a substance on the insulation was fuel oil. The source of the oil was not determined.

Pontotoc man dies after falling into silo; Storage bin was about two-thirds full with soybeans.

By Sandi P. Beason, Daily Journal

PONTOTOC – A Pontotoc man died Friday afternoon after a nearly six-hour effort to pull him from a soybean-filled silo. John Bramlett, 60, owner of Bramlett Grain and Trucking Company, was working inside a silo about two-thirds full of soybeans Friday morning when he fell. “He called us on his cell phone,” said Pontotoc Police Chief Larry Poole. After getting the call, rescue workers were immediately sent to the scene. City and county rescue workers assisted, along with the Tupelo hazmat team and private citizens. “Those beans are just like quicksand,” Poole said. “Every time we tried to pull him out, he went in deeper.” Bramlett was pulled from the silo by Pontotoc rescue workers shortly after 3:30 p.m., and taken to Pontotoc Hospital. Rescue mission Tupelo Fire Chief Mike Burns said Friday’s rescue effort was difficult because it was a confined space entry. “You’ve got to imagine what was happening,” he said. “In the center of the silo, the beans were pulling down. You had a vortex that went down and as the sides (of the silo) came open, the beans on the side went down. It was sort of a volcano shape. “We still had mounds and mounds of beans near the center after we got the sides open and beans started pouring out.” Burns said rescue workers were down inside the silo on top of the soybeans. “If we had not been suspended on ropes, a step would have been three or four feet down quick,” he said. “We were suspended with ropes to the point where if anything happened, we could be pulled back out.” Although backhoes and even shovels were used to remove the beans, Burns said the silo was about two-thirds full when he arrived and work was slow. As beans were removed, the dust created a potential explosion hazard, he said. “Our biggest concern was oxygen deficiency,” Burns said. “We had to wear air lines.” Burns said the 20 rescue workers from Tupelo arrived on the scene just after 10:34 a.m., and the victim was found just after 3 p.m. “The rescue team was back in service at 3 p.m., but some of the special operations teams guys stayed over a little longer,” he said. “They had located the victim at that time.”

2 die, 1 in coma as gas leaks from pipe

YOKOHAMA — Two workers were killed and another lapsed into a coma when they inhaled gas that leaked from an old pipe they were trying to remove from beneath a sidewalk early Saturday, police said. Taichi Ikejima, 24, and Kinichiro Ohira, 37, died in the accident while the 52-year-old father of Taichi remains unconscious. Ikejima, his father and Ohira were working in a hole they had dug for the removal work. Six other workers were sickened only slightly because they were above the ground, officials of the Tsurumi Police Station said. The nine workers apparently began digging a 1-meter-square hole at about 9 p.m., Friday, before working on the old gas pipe in Yokohama’s Tsurumi-ku. They collapsed one after another at about 12:40 a.m. A security guard sleeping at a nearby factory told reporters that “shortly before 1 a.m., I was awoken by the gas leak.” According to Tokyo Gas Co., which operates the pipes in the area, gas leaked apparently when attachments to the old pipe came loose. (Mainichi Shimbun, Feb. 9, 2002)