30 incidents & 0 updates (8/12/11)

2011 Fatality Tracker 

PLEASE NOTE:  I am taking a week off next week so the alerts may or may not get done next week.  I will do my best, but depending on internet access and speed, I may not be able to do them.  I will of course resume them next Sunday night.

Industrial

CONFINED SPACE FATALITY 1 dead, 1 injured in accident at Pa. sewer plant (one worker is dead and another is injured after an accident at a sewer plant – around 11:30 a.m. at a pumping station four workers were cleaning a valve and two of them inside a well fell unconscious – rescue teams pulled the men out of the well – the other two weren’t harmed)

LOADING DOCK FATALITY Worker killed in truck mishap (an employee was directing a flatbed truck while it was backing up – he was then pinned in between the truck and the building – medics transported the victim to the Hospital where he was pronounced dead)

GUARDING AMPUTATION Worker Severs Fingers in Pork Mixing Machine (a worker, 60, at a pork producer suffered severe injury when his fingers were severed in a pork mixing machine – he was operating a large pork mincing machine when he spotted a piece of blue plastic in amongst the mixture – he was at the top of the access steps to the mixing bowl, adding seasoning to the bowl at the time – he reached in to grab the piece of plastic – his hand got caught in the machinery, and two of his fingers were severed – the machine was inspected by the HSE, which found that it was not fitted with a safety gate at the top of the access steps – all the other mixing machines were fitted with such a gate, which electronically stops the mixing panels when it was opened)

DUST EXPLOSION Mill Explosion (three victims, 30, 48, and 55, were injured in a mill explosion around 8:13 a.m. – two workers were treated and released after coal dust ignited, causing a flash fire – a third worker was flown by helicopter with second and third degree burns – a piece of equipment used to filter coal dust was undergoing maintenance when some smoldering particles ignited other particles causing a flash fire)

ELECTRICAL Worker remains critical after powerline shock (one of the two men badly burned when a flagpole on the back of their truck hit a high-voltage powerline remains in a critical condition – he is in the burns unit of a Hospital while his fellow worker is described as stable, although doctors are considering transferring him further treatment – the two men, 41 and 50, had been erecting flagpoles and were in a truck backing out of a when a flagpole hit 11,000 volt power lines, sending a surge of electricity through the vehicle and burning the clothes off their backs – the barely alive duo were both given CPR bystanders before being rushed to hospital)

FATAL EXPLOSION Worker dies after blast in factory (one person was killed in a chemical explosion at a detonator manufacturing factory – he was mixing the chemicals for the detonator which led to the explosion)

LINEMAN ELECTROCUTED Georgia Power Worker Electrocuted (a worker, 48, has been electrocuted while working on a line – he and other crew members were trying to restore power after a power line apparently went down because of weather conditions – the line he was working on somehow came in contact with a live line and he was electrocuted – he had more than 20 years of experience as a lineman)

LOTO FATALITY Fond du Lac worker dies in Sadoff accident (a worker, 34, was killed after he became trapped in a machine – workers on the scene were trying to free him from a shear – he was extricated from the equipment by firefighters and pronounced dead at the scene – he had been working on a shear, a machine used to cut scrap metal, at the time of the accident)

MINE FATALITY Mine worker dead at AngloGold mine (a mine worker was killed and another injured in a seismic event that triggered a fall of ground at a mine – the team leader who was injured is in hospital and is stable)

FORKLIFT FATALITY Man dies in oilfield accident in High Island (a worker, 56, dismantling an oil rig has died after being struck by some pipes – he was standing by a forklift hauling some pipe when the load shifted and fell – worker was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead)

LOTO FATALITY w/ CONVEYOR Hutchinson man dies in gravel pit accident (a man, 24, was killed in a gravel pit – he was declared dead at the scene of the industrial accident, which occurred shortly before noon – the worker had become entangled in a machine and suffered an amputation – emergency responders found him no longer caught in the conveyor belt, but he was not breathing and didn’t have a pulse – resuscitation efforts failed)

ARC FLASH @ a MINE

LOTO Industrial accident injures Delhi man (a worker, 43, was trying to clear a “destacker”, a machine that takes a hay bale and makes it smaller to be shipped to Japan – the man was flown to a hospital – extent of his injuries was unknown, but they were listed as “severe” – another part of the story that states the worker “forgot to turn off a safety switch)

LOADING DOCK & PIPES Accident at plant leaves worker in critical condition (a worker, 21, was airlifted in critical condition after a metal tube falls on him – the truck loader was loading a truck to prepare to be sent out the next day – as he was working, a pipe broke from a neighboring truck and pinned him between the truck, crushing his left leg)

ELECTRICAL Consumers Energy worker taken to hospital after live wire is cut (a worker went to the hospital after a live wire was cut beneath the ground – the worker has first- and second-degree burns on both arms but is “stable” – he was working just after noon in a manhole – when firefighters arrived, the man already was out of the hole – workers thought the line was dead)

CHLORINE FATALITY Toxic Gas Leak Leaves Three Dead in E China (three people were killed after a small amount of chlorine leaked at a chemical factory at around 4:00 p.m. – an initial investigation showed that the gas leak poisoned some workers, but the exact number has not yet been determined – the cause of the accident is under investigation)

PIPELINE FIRE Four workers hurt in Kuwait gas pipeline fire (four workers had suffered burns and bruises in the incident and were taken to hospital for treatment – firemen working for Kuwait Oil Company took an hour and a quarter to put out the blazes after isolating the damaged pipeline)

EXPLOSION Five injured in Warren Township explosion (five workers were injured, three of them seriously, from an explosion in the furnace at 6:47 a.m. – all five workers received burns, and the worst-injured worker was flown by helicopter to a Burn Center – it’s not clear what caused the explosion in the electric arc furnace, but firefighters did extinguish some ”hot spots” when they got there)

ARC FLASH Explosion at Yatağan Power Plant Injures Worker (a worker, 40, has been injured in an explosion at a coal-burning power plant – the worker suffered burns and was rushed to a nearby hospital)

FATAL EXPLOSION Refinery blast kills 1 in Argentina (one worker was killed and another was critically burned in an explosion at a refinery – the incident happened a little before 1 a.m. in the refinery’s control room)

CHLORINE Chlorine tank leaks (Fire Department was called out to the Water Quality Centre after a leak was found in a tank of chlorine gas – when the tanks were being changed that day, as happens twice a month, technicians noticed a small leak from one of them – the leak was “very small” but it persisted, so at 3 p.m. the Fire Department was called out – two firemen entered the facility in Level A Hazmat suits to repair the leak, while two more in the suits waited outside)

Construction

FALL PROTECTION LANYARD GETS WRAPPED in GEO DRILL FATALITY Drilling accident kills construction worker (a construction worker, 39, died after being spun around and mangled by a drilling rig doing reinforcement work on the backside of a condominium complex – the crane-supported geological drilling rig reportedly had been malfunctioning; at one point it stopped, but started again – that’s when the worker’s fall-protection lanyard became tangled with the drill bit, some 30 to 40 feet in length – the lanyard was a like a “Slinky” that was hooked to the victim and onto the drill – workers could not immediately stop the drill, which spun the victim for no more than one minute, and no less that 30 seconds – they eventually shut down the drill by turning off the generator that powered it, about 30 yards away – he was unconscious and pronounced dead at the scene – his body was mangled to the point that it was nearly severed in half)

WORKZONE 2 Colo. highway workers injured in Greeley (two highway workers have been injured after the second crash involving road crews in a week – highway crews were setting up a lane closure for a bridge inspection – two workers were sitting in a vehicle when it was rear ended by a tractor-trailer driving on the shoulder – the injuries to the woman and man aren’t life-threatening)

Man hurt while installing Broome High scoreboard (a man was hurt while crews installed a new scoreboard at a High School – the sign was being installed when the accident happened – the worker who was injured was flown to a nearby hospital – no students or employees were hurt in the accident)

CRANE Construction worker injured after crane overturns (a crane operator fell into an 8-foot deep hole after the crane he was operating overturned – construction workers were to install a vault that will supply water to the church sprinkler system – the operator was setting the vault into the hole when the crane flipped, sending him and the vault into the hole – the man did not hit concrete but fell into the center, which was dirt)

EXCAVATOR & LIMB Worker killed by falling branch after excavator hits tree (a man, 74, was killed in a freak accident when a tree branch fell on him at a worksite – the man had been supervising excavator work on the site when the machine struck a tree, causing a large branch to crash down on top of him – he died at the scene)

ELECTRICAL Roofer hurt during electrical accident (a local roofer was hospitalized after receiving an electrical burn – the worker was part of a crew repairing a roof – the worker was burned when he accidentally came in contact with an electrical line that provided power to an air conditioning unit – when emergency crews arrived shortly before 10 a.m. they realized they needed to use an aerial tower ladder to safely remove the injured worker from the roof – there is no word on the worker’s condition at this time)

Three Asian Workers Killed (three workers have been killed and two others injured when a quantity of marble fell on them while working at a residential complex under construction – a rescue team was dispatched to the accident site soon after the accident, removed the bodies and took the wounded to the hospital where they are treated now)

FATAL FALL 9 workers plunge to deaths in Brazil elevator (at least nine construction workers died when the elevator they were riding in at a building site plummeted 20 stories to the ground – nobody else was injured – inspector stated the elevator was not overloaded at the time of the accident – the workers died at the site of a partially constructed commercial building in a business district)

CHEMICAL FATALITY Toxic fumes: 2 workers die (two labourers died after inhaling toxic gas at a construction site – it was believed that both men aged 38 were extracting water from a footing with three-metre depth at the site – the first victim fell unconscious at 9am while the other victim was in the same condition at 11am)

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