28 incidents & 1 update (10/21/11)

2011 Fatality Tracker 

Industrial

Fatal Logging Accident (a logging accident has killed a worker, 60 – he and a co-worker had been cutting down trees when the accident happened)

FORKLIFT into ELECTRICAL Calif. rescue crews save construction worker’s life (worker, 23, nearly electrocuted after forklift tires caught fire – firefighters restored his breathing – his condition was upgraded from critical to fair – he was standing beside a forklift being operated by his father, 50, and holding onto a pole his father was attempting to move with the machine – when the forklift came into contact with 12,000-volt wires, the worker was knocked to the ground and the forklift tires caught fire – a fellow worker, 40, was shocked when he threw a pail of water on the tires in an attempt to put out the flames)

CONFINED SPACE FATALITY Worker killed in sanitation accident (a worker was killed after a sanitation accident and explosion around 10:15 a.m. near a site of an ongoing sanitary sewer construction site – investigators say there was a failure of pressure testing equipment while two workers were in the manhole – arriving units found one worker self-extricated with minor injuries -a second worker suffered severe head injuries and remained in the hole – units assisted by Union Fire Protection District and the Northern Kentucky Technical Rescue Team set up Confined Space Rescue Operations – when the second worker was reached, it was determined he had succumbed to his injuries – rescue workers subsequently recovered the victim – the deceased worker was an employee of a contractor to the Sanitation District)

LOTO/GUARDING Worker injured in on-job accident (an employee suffered injuries in an accident at the plant – he was injured when he got caught in a machine at the plant – the worker was trapped inside the machine for nearly an hour as rescue personnel worked to free him – he was flown to a Hospital for additional treatment – the man was conscious and talking – the injures appeared to be to his right leg)

MINE FATALITY Miner Is Killed At Shoemaker (a worker, 62, died around 8 p.m. following an accident at the portal of the underground mine – he was injured when he dismounted the piece of equipment he was operating as a trench digger and connected it to a power source – it seems the machine struck him when it re-energized, amputating his leg – the area of the mine where the accident occurred is called the “jump” – a 50-foot break in the trolley wire, where regular vehicles can cross the mine track – he tried to use a jumper cable to move the loading machine he was operating – an eyewitness said when he connected his equipment to the power source, the machine suddenly moved forward, running over him)

Man hurt in mill fall (a man received severe multiple injuries in an accident at the Mill – the man, believed to be in his 60s, was flown to the spinal unit at a Hospital – the man had been working on an electric motor when he fell)

ELECTROCUTION Texas Utility Worker Electrocuted (a utility worker, 21, has been electrocuted, evidently after coming into contact with a high-voltage line – he had worked for the utility for two years)

TIRE CHANGING FATALITY Marshfield man killed in heavy equipment accident (a worker, 39, was killed while working with heavy construction equipment at a garage – the man was killed while changing a tire on a large truck – he was changing a tire on the truck when the tire apparently blew and sent a piece of the rim flying into his head – the victim was alone at the time – a coworker later found the man lying next to the truck, he was unresponsive – his cause of death is listed at blunt-force trauma to the head)

UPDATE now a MINE FATALITY Mine worker dies in accident (employee, 51, has died from a workplace accident at the company’s nickel mining operation – he succumbed to his injuries nearly two weeks after the accident – his equipment fell into a cavern inside the underground mine on Oct. 7 – he was undergoing an installation of a rock-filled bumper – as he was setting up this barricade underground, the Scooptram, which is a load-haul dump vehicle that you operate underground, went over the edge and fell into an empty block or empty cavern – the cavern was about 30 to 45 metres deep)

UPDATE on RADIATION EXPOSURE SRS worker OK after plutonium exposure (a worker contaminated with plutonium after his finger was punctured in an accident last year will fully recover – officials reached that conclusion after monitoring the employee since the June 14, 2010, accident – the employee was sorting radioactive waste when he improperly inserted a survey flag into a can of radioactive waste, puncturing six layers of protective clothing and his index finger)

SMOKE BREAK and Coveralls with Flammable Liquid stain Olympic Dam worker burnt while on smoko (a worker sustained serious burns to his body while taking a cigarette break at the mine site – the contract worker had been rushed to the burns unit of a Hospital, where he remained in a serious condition – it is understood the worker came into contact with a flammable liquid in one of two work areas in the complex – some time later, his overalls ignited during a cigarette break while he was in a break area)

CONFINED SPACE FATALITY – HOTWORK SPARKS FLASH FIRE Explosion at MRPL kills 1, injures 4 (a teenage worker, 19, was killed and four suffered severe burns when an explosion ripped through a crude oil storage tank – worker, 22, suffered 100 per cent burns and is said to be critical – workers, 26 and 32, sustained injuries – the incident took place around 11.55 am when they were working inside the tank – grinding work (smoothening of the tank surface) was going on and some painting work was being done nearby)

Worker burned in fire at Wheatfield plant (one worker was injured in a fire that broke out at a ceramics plant – he sustained minor burns to his left hand and forearm – he was treated at the scene – plant produces ekonol polyester resin using heated oil that is contained in pipes – it appears the pipe became over pressurized and the hot oil spilled over, igniting nearby materials)

EXPLOSION BlueScope explosion blows roof ‘sky high’ (an explosion at a steelworks has blown a hole in the roof of the No4 coke battery as the facility was being closed down – the explosion, which sent pieces of the coke oven lids flying into the air, happened in the early hours of the morning at the No4 coke battery – no one was hurt in the blast, which happened when few workers were in the vicinity – the hole in the roof was 15-20m wide and some parts of the roof were found far away from the coke battery)

CHEMICAL Worker breathes fumes, taken to hospital (a city employee was taken to a hospital after a hazardous materials incident at a water treatment facility – firefighters were sent to the facility Monday morning when an employee was exposed to an irritant in a lab – the employee was exposed to fumes of an unknown nature when she opened a cabinet in the water reclamation laboratory, and she complained of irritated eyes and a scratchy throat – firefighters evacuated the five employees on duty)

CHLORINE 4 dead, 40 taken ill in gas leaks (four people were dead and at least 40 taken ill in two separate incidents of gas leakage  – in one incident, four workers died after inhaling poisonous gas when a docked ship was being gas-freed – at least 40 people, including 12 firemen, fell sick after a pipe of the chlorine unit of a chemical factory leaked)

Construction

MANLIFT FATALITY Police look into death of highway worker during bridge work (a state bridge maintenance worker, 62, died while working in a bucket truck – investigators are trying to determine whether human error or mechanical problems caused the death of a state highway worker – he died of a head injury when the mechanical boom he was operating rose too high, causing him to hit his head on steel under the bridge – he was one of two DOT workers in the basket of a mechanical boom, and was at the controls when the basket for some reason rose to the point it hit the structure under the bridge – the other worker was able to duck into the basket and avoid injury)

Construction worker injured in steel beam accident (a construction worker is recovering from injuries sustained in a steel accident – a steel beam fell from a construction site and struck the worker in the head – the victim was taken to a Hospital and initial reports are saying the victim is suffering from serious head injuries – investigators are trying to determine how far the beam fell and how the incident initially happened)

FORKLIFT Light Rail Construction Worker Injured in Equipment Rollover (a light rail construction worker was taken to a Medical Center with a leg injury after he became trapped in an accident around 11 a.m. – he was operating a forklift on the flyover train bridge – the forklift tipped over on the sandy burm near the rail bed and trapped the worker’s right leg – it appears the door may have been open when it tipped, and the man partially fell out – he was pinned under the machine for about 10 minutes – crew members used a front-end loader to pull the 22,000-lb. forklift off the victim as firefighters readied extraction tools – the worker was conscious and alert during the process, even calmly giving advice on how to raise the forklift before he was transported)

MANLIFT FATALITY Friends identify killed construction worker (a construction worker, 28, may have fallen from a cherry picker that toppled over on a construction site – the worker was killed by a piece of falling structural steel while on a lift – workers were placing steel beams on a skeletal structure at a site when one of the beams fell – he was in a lift truck parked near the structure, which tipped over when the beam hit it – he fell about 50 feet and died at the scene)

FALL Construction worker falls from roof, life-flighted in critical condition (a worker, 52, at the construction site fell more than 20 feet around 12:50 p.m. – he fell from the roof of a building that has been under construction for a couple of months near the jail)

FORKLIFT and ELECTRICAL Construction Accident Knocks out Power and Sends Workers to Hospital (a construction accident knocks out the power to a middle school and sends two workers to the hospital around 1:30 p.m. – a forklift operator over extended the lift, hitting a high voltage power line and electrocuting the operator – another worker then attempted to extinguish a fire that started after the accident, but was also shocked – both men were taken to area hospitals with unknown injuries)

CRANE Industrial accident sends worker to hospital (a worker, 50, was transported to hospital after falling ten feet at a construction site – he fell as he was cutting a steel beam that was suspended by a crane  -when the beam detached, it struck the gondola he was working from, knocking the man to the ground – he is in serious, but stable, condition in hospital)

WORKZONE FATALITY & BUCKET TRUCK Mass. worker thrown from bucket after crash dies (a city worker, 58, has died after he fell from a bucket truck that was clipped by a passing tractor trailer rig – he was in the bucket working on an overhead traffic signal at the time of the accident – he was taken to a Medical Center, but was pronounced dead a short time later)

CRANE Brick lifting clamp crushes builder (a construction worker suffered serious internal injuries after being crushed in a brick clamp used to load pallets on a delivery lorry – worker attempted to use a brick clamp on a lorry crane to lift  a worker off the roof of a cabin while he was collecting building materials from a construction site – the pallet of materials they were collecting was behind an eight foot wall and it was not possible to pick them up normally with the lorry crane they were using – in trying to guide the crane into place, the worker climbed onto the roof of the cabin and to get down quickly the operator tried to lift him with the grab of the crane – worker walked between the arms of the clamp, which was at waist height, in preparation to gain a foot or hand hold – as he did so, the operator attempted to move the arms – but he used the wrong switch and inadvertently operated the clamp button – the arms fractured the worker’s his pelvis and causing crush-related internal injuries, including nerve damage)

MIscellaneouS

Man hurt in Missoula workplace accident loses leg (doctors could not save the leg of the tire center employee, 29, who was injured when a car pinned him against a support beam – he was critically injured when a co-worker’s boot got caught up on both the gas and the brake pedals while he was driving a car into the service bay – the car shot ahead and pinned his leg below the knee – two co-workers who saw what happened quickly applied a tourniquet)

BOILER RESTART HISD: Maintenance man burned by boiler at Patrick Henry Middle School (a maintenance man was burned while checking the boiler at a Middle School – a side panel blew off when the worker tried to restart the boiler – he suffered minor burns on his face and hands and was taken to the hospital – school was evacuated for 30 minutes as a precaution)