42 incidents & 0 updates (5/6/12)

2012 Fatality Tracker

INDUSTRIAL

GUARDING FATALITY Shredder tragedy at recycling plant (an employee at a recycling business was killed after apparently falling into a shredder – he was been pronounced deceased – the man, who was between 35 and 40 years old, is believed to have fallen into the shredder about 3: 50 p.m.)

FATAL TOLUENE TRANSFER EXPLOSION Three killed in factory explosion (at least three people were killed and about 50 people injured when an explosion and fire broke out at a petrochemical factory – thousands of people were evacuated from nearby factories and communities in a three kilometre radius of the estate to prevent them from inhaling toxic gases – most of the dead and injured were workers and mechanics at the factory – they suffered from inhaling toxic gases, burns and wounds from the blast – firefighters used foam to douse the blaze which took more than four hours to get under control – an initial investigation found that the blast occurred when workers were putting toluene, a type of chemical widely used as an industrial feedstock and as a solvent, into a tank – the blast ignited a fire that ravaged part of the factory but did not spread to nearby factories)

FATALITY @ SAWMILL Man killed in accident at Canfor mill (a millwright contractor at a Sawmill was killed after being crushed by a poorly secured gate)

CRANE FATALITY Worker killed at Lafayette Plant (a worker, 26, was killed in an accident at a Tool rental business – a crane operator accidentally crushed a co-worker who was on the ground as they were moving some pipes shortly after 7:30 – worker was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead)

CRANE FATALITY Industrial Accident Claims Napoleonville Man’s Life (for the second time in as many days, an industrial accident has claimed the life of a worker, 22 –  worker was crushed by a pressure-vessel as it was being lowered to the ground by a crane)

LOTO FATALITY Worker dies at gravel quarry near Fort McMurray, Alta. (worker, 29, has been killed while working at a gravel quarry – he was conducting maintenance on gravel sorting equipment, when a chain broke and struck the worker – it happened in conjunction with the movement of a conveyor)

FORKLIFT Construction worker injured at Syracuse’s Carousel Center when pallets fall (a construction worker, 27, was injured when several pallets of floor tiles fell and partially pinned him to a wall – he was helping unload a shipping container filled with ceramic floor tiles about 8:45 a.m. when the accident occurred – a forklift was removing pallets of tiles from the 20-foot shipping container when three pallets fell – he suffered minor injuries to his face and elbow and was sent to a Hospital)

HAND INJURY AT STEEL MILL Worker airlifted with hand injury (a worker was airlifted to hospital with a crushed hand following an incident at a steelworks – the man suffered a badly injured hand which was bleeding heavily, although the injury was not believed to be life- threatening)

HYDRAULIC PRESS EXPLODES (Worker burned in southeast Michigan industrial accident (a man hurt when hydraulic forge press exploded – he suffered severe burns when the hydraulic forge press he was using exploded – no other details)

CRANE FATALITY Port worker killed in accident (a worker, 42, was killed when a heavy iron plate fell on him from a crane at a port – the crane was unloading the iron plate from a vessel at jetty number eight – the cable of the crane snapped and the plate fell on the worker killing him instantly)

FATAL EXPLOSION – possibly caused by STATIC 4 killed, 15 injured in chemical factory blast (four workers were burnt alive in a major fire that broke out after two blasts in reactors of a chemical factory – at least 15 workers were injured in the accident – the condition of eight of the injured was said to be serious, as most of them had suffered 50% burns – more than 30 workers were on duty on Monday when there was an explosion around 6.50am on the first floor of the chemical factory – as the fire spread, there was a second blast around 7.05am, possibly in another reactor – initial reports suggested that the first blast was caused by a “static charge”; however, according to sources linked with the probe, a safety valve of the reactor may have malfunctioned – the blast was so big that it was easily heard even at a distance of 6 km, and so powerful that the pieces of reactors were found spread in fields up to a distance of 600 yards – the 50-kg cover of the reactor was also found nearly 300 yards away from the spot)

STEEL MILL FATALITIES – SLAG BURNS Skeletal remains of workers recovered at VSP (after hours of rescue operation, all that the fire fighters could retrieve is the skeletal remains of the two workers who were charred to death when liquid slag spilled over from the blast furnace-3 – a pall of gloom descended on the staff and other contract employees who could do nothing but watch the workers die in front of their eyes)

FATAL FALL @ REFINERY Employee dies after fall at a refinery (an employee died after a fall at a refinery – the man fell from a height of 100 feet (30.5 meters) – he was taken to a local hospital, where he died)

FATAL EXPLOSION Explosions, fire at petrochemical plant in eastern Thailand kill 12 (explosions and a fire at one of the world’s largest petrochemical industrial estates have killed 12 people and injured more than 100 others – authorities are investigating the cause of the explosions, which occurred when workers were cleaning a chemical tank at a synthetic rubber manufacturer – most of the dead were workers at the plant)

HOTWORK Minor damage caused by fire at industrial plant (a fire at a facility caused minor damage and no injuries were reported – fire officials praised workers for a quick evacuation – a small fire was discovered in a welding area – sparks from the welding ignited particles in a filtration system – power to the welding station was shut off and firefighters used water to put out the small fire)

HOTWORK Plant officials say welding sparked business fire (no one was hurt and the fire was confined to a piece of equipment that had been prepared for removal – it was believed that welding done earlier in the day caused some internal material to smolder and finally ignite – plant personnel were evacuated as a precaution)

HOTWORK Welding torch the cause of Select Foods blaze: fire officials (fire officials have fingered a welding torch as the ignition source behind a $750,000 fire – an employee was welding a metal door frame at the building when the fire started – the plant manager immediately went to call 911 and then came back with another employee to try to extinguish the fire – despite the attempt to extinguish the fire, it spread to nearby walls – no reported injuries)

REFINERY EXPLOSION Blast Shuts Down Mexican Oil Refinery (an explosion caused by an electrical short-circuit forced a suspension of operations at the refinery – no one was hurt in the blast and there is no danger to residents near the refinery – though the accident did not damage any equipment, plant managers halted operations as a standard safety measure)

HYDROCHLORIC ACID TRAILER CATASTROPHICALLY FAILS Acid explosion reported at local power plant (around 4:30 a.m. the Power Plant reported a trailer containing hydrochloric acid exploded – the catastrophic failure of this container resulted in a 7,500 gallon spill – the spill was confined to the immediate area of the incident and no one was injured during the release – it isn’t known at this time what caused the pressurized container to fail, but we know that fire was not the cause – the Power plant did not suffer any significant damage – the Power Plant was currently going through this annual maintenance when this incident occurred)

GAS PLANT EXPLOSION Nobody hurt in Texas Panhandle gas plant explosion (an energy company is working to reroute natural gas for processing after a fiery explosion closed one of its nine units – the cause of the accident has not been determined – the damage is to the main receipt point for raw natural gas – about a dozen workers were at the facility during the accident – nobody was hurt and the fire burned itself out the next day)

AMMONIA Ice factory gas leak leaves 1 unconscious (a gas leakage at an ice factory triggered panic in the area because the ammonia had spread all over, leaving a 14-year-old unconscious – the girl was standing in front of her house when the gas pipe leaked and the impact of the gas was immediate on her – she was immediately rushed to the hospital and is stated to be still unconscious – the incident occurred at the ice factory where the owner was getting the annual repair work done – one of the pipes leaked while the work was on and created huge panic in the area)

CHLORINE Dozens fall ill after leak (dozens of workers were sent to hospital after an abrupt discharge of a bleaching agent at a chemical factory about 6.30pm – workers smelled a strong chlorine-like odour at the plant – about 50 workers at the plant and a nearby construction site felt weak and developed throat irritations after inhaling the gas – they were taken to a Hospital and eight of them were admitted – the cause of the emergency shutdown was unknown)

FORKLIFT No injuries in forklift mishap (no one was injured when a caterpillar forklift working on Berth 2 tipped over, leaving the crane bucket suspended over the dock at about 4:30 p.m. – “It started to tip, so the operator jumped off, and it kind of tipped over and got on the side of the dock” – he was not injured)

CRANE Worker injured while moving machine (a worker, 66, at an industrial facility that manufactures and repairs centrifuges was injured after he became trapped between heavy machines – he and another employee were attempting to move a centrifuge with a crane when the accident occurred – when the centrifuge was unhooked, it shifted and pinned the man against another piece of machinery – other employees nearby were able to free him – the man had non-life-threatening injuries)

FATAL FALL from FORKLIFT PALLET Electrical contractor dies after falling 16 feet off forklift (an independent electrical contractor, 47, who was working fell off a forklift to his death around 11:15 a.m. – he fell about 16 feet from a forklift, suffering serious head injuries – the contractor had someone use the forklift to place him atop of a wood pallet, creating a platform – the man, and pallet, fell about 16 feet, hitting his head – he was taken to a Hospital where he died)

CONSTRUCTION

MANLIFT FATALITY Worker injured Monday at bridge site dies (a construction worker, 50, who was airlifted to Louisville after an accident at a bridge construction site has died – he was working in a bucket when he was pinned between the bucket and the object he was working on – crews found him unconscious at the site – cause of death has not been determined)

ARC FLASH Update on Accident at Lourdes Hospital (an accident injured two workers at a Hospital – one of the contractors was flown to a hospital to be treated for severe burns – the other suffered less serious injuries and was treated right at the hospital – the worker was drilling a hole when he came in contact with live wires which caused a flash)

FATAL FALL & ELECTRICAL Construction worker dies in Fairmount accident (a construction worker, 30 died after he fell from scaffolding at a work site – he was pronounced dead about 1:45 p.m.- he came in contact with a live wire while working on the third floor of a building under construction and fell to the ground)

Two Injured On Airport Construction Site (two construction workers were injured and subsequently transported to the hospital by ambulance – the full extent of their injuries is unknown at this time – no other details)

TRUCK & PARKING BRAKE Worker run over by his own rig at construction site in Milton (worker unhitched a large flatbed trailer from his truck – the rig started to roll down the gravel drive – he didn’t set the brake on the truck – he set the brake on the trailer, and then uncoupled the trailer from the truck and when he did that, the truck started rolling forward – he tried climbing back into the cab but slipped under the rig’s rear wheels, which ran over his upper legs – he remains in critical condition at the hospital)

EXCAVATION & GAS LINES Ruptured Gas Line at USC Campus Injures Worker (a construction worker suffered minor burns after a one-inch gas line broke and ignited just before 8 a.m. – the construction worker who reportedly broke the line, was treated at the scene for minor burns but was not transported to a hospital)

MANLIFT FATALITY Vic man killed in workplace accident (a truck driver, 37, has been killed after being crushed between two lifts while unloading stock – he was delivering two pieces of equipment to a work site car park when he was crushed between a scissor lift and a fork lift at 6.15am (AEST) – he was believed to be on the scissor lift when the accident happened – the man was found by another worker who is being treated in hospital for shock)

FALL & IMPALEMENT Worker falls on metal rod (a worker was impaled on a metal rod when he fell at a construction site at 10:30 a.m. –  he was removing material when he slipped and fell backwards onto the metal – the rod pierced his thigh – he was conscious and talking with rescuers as he was taken to the hospital)

MISCELLANEOUS

FATAL LPG CYLINDER EXPLOSION Three killed in LPG cylinder explosion at hotel (three persons were killed and three others injured when a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinder exploded in a fire that broke out in a hotel – fire broke out in the kitchen of a hotel – the fire suspected to have been caused by a leak in an LPG cylinder that was being unloaded in the kitchen later spread to the entire hotel – other LPG cylinders kept in the hotels also burst – the owner of the hotel and two workers were charred to death in the fire accident)

ARC FLASH Worker suffers facial burns, no students injured (an accident during construction at a High School sent a school maintenance worker to the hospital – an accident involving an electrical box at the school resulted in a School District employee suffering burns to his face, necessitating him being taken to a Hospital for treatment of his injuries – they were doing electrical work in the mechanical room when one of the wires on the electrical panel grounded out and started sparking – the burns weren’t severe, but he was transported for more evaluation)

Mechanic is killed by quad bike (a garage worker, 33, has been crushed to death by a quad bike in an accident at his workplace – he became trapped between a wall and the vehicle while trying to manoeuvre it out of the forecourt – it is understood that he had accidentally accelerated instead of reversing the bike)

FLASH FIRE Worker severely burned in port fire (a maintenance worker was severely burned with burns to his upper torso – paramedics treated the man at the scene and rushed him to a Medical Center where he is being treated in the hospital’s burn unit – investigation determined that the victim was working on a vehicle in the maintenance building when he was burned by an accidental flash fire – no one else was injured)

CONFINED SPACE FATALITIES – ONE ENTRANT and ONE “Would-Be-Rescuer” Workers suffocate while cleaning septic tank (two workers, 26 and 28, died while cleaning a septic tank at a restaurant – they died after entering the tank – lack of oxygen was to blame for their deaths – one person went inside to clean the tank while the other person was standing outside waiting for him to come out – when he didn’t hear any noise from inside, he went inside to check what happened – both men could not come out and died in the tank)