29 incidents & 1 update (4/1/13)

2013 Fatality Tracker

STORY of INTEREST

Burned workers in Tulsa are charged with workers’ comp fraud (three burned co-workers at a metal fabrication company are accused in charges of workers’ compensation fraud of lying about how they were injured – they worked the evening shift – the three blamed their facial burns on a flash fire caused by a leaking welding torch inside the plant the night of Nov. 19, 2011 – all three filed for workers’ compensation benefits in December 2011 – prosecutors allege they really suffered the burns while playing around outside the plant with small explosives – no evidence of equipment malfunction was found inside the plant, and a fourth worker at the plant that night said he did not see or hear any flash fire or explosion – outside the plant, a supervisor found a soot-covered cigarette lighter, a pressure tank, fragments of a balloon, a burned and exploded five-gallon plastic container and two plastic drinking bottles believed to have been used as small explosive devices, an attorney general’s investigator reported – the supervisor also found inside one of the worker’s locker fireworks, a golf ball with a fuse inside it, several balloons and several plastic, hollow practice golf balls – felony charges are pending)

Chevron cuts bonus for CEO, other execs (Chevron Corp.’s board cut the annual bonus for CEO and several other top executives in response to a string of accidents at the oil company’s facilities, including a refinery fire in Richmond that sent thousands of people to hospitals complaining of breathing problems – the bonus cuts were in excess of 10 percent and follow the board’s decision earlier this year to reduce the number of stock options the CEO received for his 2012 performance – the company did not identify the other executives whose bonuses were cut – Chevron last year scored its second-highest annual profit ever, making $26.2 billion, but it also suffered several high-profile accidents in the past two years, as well as the Richmond blaze)

INDUSTRIAL

1 Killed, 3 Hurt Accident at Ark. Nuclear Plant (one worker died and three others were injured when a heavy piece of equipment fell on them at a nuclear plant – the workers were moving the equipment from the turbine building – the three injured workers were taken to a hospital)

UPDATE VACUUM EXPLOSION Worker’s clothes set alight during factory explosion at Renishaw in Stone (an engineering firm has been ordered to pay £13,397 by a court after an industrial vacuum cleaner exploded and burned one of its employees – he suffered burns to his face, neck, shoulder and arm in the workplace accident in February, 2011 – his clothes and face mask were set alight when the vacuum exploded as he tried to remove powder from a floor – accident left the 27-year-old in hospital for two weeks – the day before the accident another employee used the vacuum to clean up aluminum powder which had been spilt from a faulty valve on a sieving machine – it was then put to one side and the vacuumed aluminum started to react with water in the vacuum and started to produce hydrogen gas – the following day he took the vacuum to the sieving room, plugged it in and then it exploded – the motor part was blown clean off the drum – his clothing and face mask was on fire and several workers ran to his aid)

CRANE FATALITY Worker Plummets 34 Meters to His Death at Teghout (a worker, 24, was killed when the crane basket he was in plummeted 34 meters to the ground- the company was contracted to dismantle various metal structures at the site – this is the second deadly accident at the site – on December 26, 2012, a worker, 50, fell from the second story of a mineral ore warehouse and died in a hospital eight days later)

MINE FATALITY Construction Worker Killed After Being Trapped In Quarry (an accident at a quarry left one man, 61, dead around 3:50 pm – he was killed during routine rock blasting operations at the site – emergency crews tried to rescue the long time employee but he died at the scene – no one else was injured)

FORESTRY FATALITY Tree crushes and kills Tikitere forestry worker (a tree has fallen on a forestry worker and crushed him to death about 3pm – it was unknown how the accident occurred)

FORKLIFT FATALITY Worker killed in forklift accident (a worker, 41, was killed in a forklift accident at a beer warehouse – he was said to be operating the forklift to move cartons of beer around 3.05pm when the forklift malfunctioned and pinned him and another worker to the ground – three other workers came to the aid of the victims, but one died in the Hospital an hour later while the other worker survived)

FOUNDRY Foundry accident: Four workers burn in workplace fire (four factory workers were injured in a fire at a foundry – they were taken to a Hospital, where doctors said that their condition was critical – an explosion occurred as soon as one of the workers put the scrap in the burner – molten iron fell on four workers standing nearby)

CRUSHED BY GARBAGE TRUCK Two sanitation workers injured in garbage truck flip over (two sanitation workers, both 45, have been sent to a local hospital after a garbage truck they were riding in flipped over – two people were in the vehicle at the time of the accident. The passenger was pinned under the truck for 45 minutes – firefighters had to use the jaw of life to lift the 30 ton garbage truck off his legs – he had to undergo surgery for his severe lower leg injuries – the driver was also injured in the accident – he too was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries – the two were making stop along their daily route when the back axle of the vehicle broke off and caused the truck to flip on its side)

FALL into SCALDING WATER 2 workers in NW Minn. fall into scalding water (two employees at a sugar plant have suffered serious burns after they fell into scalding hot water about 6 p.m. – the men fell into water that was nearly boiling – a 21-year-old suffered second- and third-degree burns over his entire body, and a 32-year-old had burns on his hands and feet – bth were taken to a hospital – the 21-year-old was airlifted to a burn unit – their conditions were not immediately known – the water was nearly 200 degrees Fahrenheit)

FATAL EXPLOSION Explosion in North Dakota oil patch kills one, injures one (an explosion at a business in the oil patch has killed one worker and injured another – the blast happened while a worker, 19, was cleaning the inside of an oil tanker trailer at the trucking yard – he was pronounced dead at the scene – worker, 20, suffered burns and other undisclosed injuries and was flown to a hospital)

HOTWORK EXPLOSION No serious injuries in blast at Bismarck business (one worker had singed hair on his beard and two others reported hearing loss after an explosion, but there were no serious injuries – the blast blew a hole in the roof of the building – workers welding on a tanker used to transport petroleum products ignited fumes inside the tank – damage was estimated at about $50,000)

COMBUSTIBLE DUST Goodyear employees back at work after Saturday’s fire; no disruptions reported (all employees are back to work and expects no more disruptions in its operations after a fire – the precise cause for the fire that began about 5 p.m. and sent thick black smoke billowing from the roof is still under investigation – fire began in the fabric calender room, where rubber and wire are compressed by machines into flat sheets before being made into tires elsewhere in the plant – the fire apparently started when dust ignited in a tray of a large machine – two employees treated for smoke inhalation were doing well)

CHLORINE Chlorine leak at Tyler water treatment plant sends one to hospital (a leak in a chlorine pipe at a Water Treatment Plant at approximately 6:45 a.m. – an alarm at the plant alerted staff that there was a leak – the Fire Department was notified to begin response and plant workers donned emergency breathing apparatus and were able to close the emergency shut off valves – stopping the leak – one city employee, who was arriving to work at the time, is believed to have been exposed to the chlorine – he was transported to the hospital and is undergoing treatment at this time – he is reported to be in stable condition – no evacuation outside of the plant property was needed.  City workers are currently returning to their work stations at the plant)

One person killed, three injured in fire at Vuhlehirska Thermal Power Plant (one person was killed and three people injured as a result of fire at a Thermal Power Plant – fire covered the roof of the building around 1,500 square meters in area – equipment caught fire at the second unit of the thermal power plant – 10 people rescued from the smoke-filled premises)

FATAL FALL @ WWTP Worker falls to his death at St. Petersburg water plant (workers were performing maintenance on the inside wall of an aerator tank that is approximately 250 feet long and 70 feet wide when the man, 52, fell 30 feet off a lift at 11:15 a.m. – workers were resurfacing the inside wall of an aerator tank – the man was already in cardiac arrest by the time firefighters arrived, and they performed CPR on him until they concluded he could not survive his injuries – he died from “unsurvivable trauma,” though authorities have not determined a cause of death – he was a subcontractor – he was not wearing a safety harness at the time of the accident, according to St. Petersburg police – the part of the tank where the man was working had already been drained for maintenance)

TANK FIRE Pensacola chemical plant explosion under investigation (a tank caught fire in a closed off area called a “tank farm” that contains several other tanks – the fire was contained within a half-hour – residents in the area did not need to evacuate – firefighters were on the scene for about three hours – plant makes unsaturated polyester and vinyl resins for composites used in products ranging from bathtubs to turbine blades – State Fire Marshal is investigating the cause of the fire which they say caused $1 million in damage – no one was hurt)

DUST EXPLOSION Unknown cause of explosion and fire at Cedar Rapids fiber plant (Fire Department is investigating what caused an explosion and fire at a fiber plant shortly after 9 a.m. – two employees working on the second floor thought they smelled smoke – they investigated the smell, but found nothing – after the employees had walked to the other side of the plant, a dust explosion occurred, sparking a fire – the sprinkler system knocked down the fire – no one was injured – the company takes waste oat hulls and processes them to be used as filler in food products)

AMMONIA Hazmat evacuates buildings after ammonia leak discovered downtown (an ammonia leak in an downtown ice plant caused first responders to evacuated the area around 8 p.m. – parts of the street was closed as crews monitored nearby homes, looking for larger than normal amounts of the chemical – they did find the source of the leak and remedied the situation – no injuries were reported)

AMMONIA Wisynco ammonia leak also being probed (a few persons were sent to the hospital to do tests as a precautionary method, there were no admissions – the leak was “fully contained and the area rendered safe – approximately 12 workers were taken to hospital, as a precautionary action, after complaints of nausea, however, no serious injuries were reported – Town Fire Brigade suggested that the leak was caused by a blown-off valve that occurred during sanitation at the plant – the gas rapidly spread to the bottle plant section due to windy conditions)

AMMONIA Ammonia leak in north Visalia keeps residents inside on Easter morning (an ammonia leak forced some residents to stay inside until early afternoon – the leak occurred at 7:46 a.m. at a milk plant – it was discovered when the department was called to respond to a strong odor of ammonia – Fire Department said it used the County notification system to send out 1700 automated messages to warn residents within a one-half mile radius to the north and west of the leak to stay inside their homes, shut the windows and not use their heaters or air conditioners until it was safe – after the leak was fixed, the system was used again to inform residents that it was safe to go outside again – no injuries were reported)

CONSTRUCTION

TRENCH FATALITY Officials Identify Construction Worker Killed in Accident (construction worker, 28, died in a trench accident – a crew was working inside the 8 foot deep trench to uncover a utility line in the subdivision when one of the walls collapsed – the crew was working with an excavator at the site, but at the time of the accident it is believed only men with shovels were in the trench – he was possibly hit on the head by an object or a large amount of dirt during the collapse – by the time firefighters arrived his coworkers had already uncovered his body, but he was unconscious and not breathing – another worker in the trench was taken to the hospital with a leg injury)

WALL COLLAPSE 2 workers injured after fall at Marist College construction site (two workers fell and sustained injuries at a construction site on a college campus after a wall collapsed just before 8:45 a.m. – the distance the two men fell was not immediately available, but they fell inside the structure and not off the roof – the wall was in the process of being removed – the workers were taken out on stretchers by firefighters and emergency personnel and were taken to a Hospital to be treated for their injuries)

MISCELLANEOUS

One dead and 2 injured in Changi Airport accident (an accident at an Airport left a worker dead and another two injured – preliminary investigations showed that the three workers were using wrenches to detach a connected drill pipe when the pipe suddenly spun – the wrenches then swung and struck the three men – the workers were taken to a Hospital, but one of them later died from his injuries – the other workers suffered cuts and bruises)

STRUCK BY BUS FATALITY VTA worker dies after bizarre accident in San Jose bus yard (a veteran worker, 62, has died after being hit by a bus in a maintenance yard – he was hit by a bus at night and died at the hospital – the unidentified employee driving the bus has been placed on administrative leave, a standard procedure, while state workplace investigators and sheriff’s deputies look into the accident – the crash was caught on camera at 10:40 p.m. at the 33-acre bus yard – he was working his usual late-night shift, when he typically cleaned and fueled buses, when the bus struck him)

LAB EXPLOSION – CHLORINE DIOXIDE 1 Injured in Hospital Lab Explosion: Fire Officials Say (one person has been injured in an explosion at a lab at a Hospital – an employee was cleaning a lab in the basement of Tower 3 and using chlorine dioxide when something sparked a flash fire and the chemical exploded –  employee suffered burns to the face and hands and was taken to the ER)

HOTWORK DRUM EXPLOSION West Bountiful man remains critical after welding-related blast (a man, 60, remained in critical condition the day after he suffered head injuries when a steel drum he was welding exploded – he had been sedated to aid his recovery from facial and head injuries sustained when a piece of the 50-gallon drum struck him when the container exploded about 2:15 p.m. – the drum had appeared to be empty, authorities were told, but apparently it contained enough fumes from an unidentified flammable residue to ignite the blast when it was heated)

FORKLIFT FATALITY Wayne Poyer Jr., Walkill man killed in forklift accident (worker, 25, was working on the vehicle when it suddenly fell off the forklift it had been hoisted on, trapping him – he was crushed by the car)

What’s New @ SAFTENG.net

The Role of Scene Assessment or Size-up (USFA)

CAMEO Chemicals 2.4 is now available

Counterfeit Portable Fire Extinguishers

2013 Video of the Week #13 (LPG HAZMAT Scene explosion)

2013 Photo of the Week #13 (Electrical)

OSHA’s “hydrocarbon fuel exemption” in PSM

Facility Siting 101 – Vehicle Barriers around critical equipment (NH3 Tank Damage from Semi – Photos/Layout/RMP)

A OSHRC decision that will make you scratch your head

9,400 High Rate Workplaces Receiving OSHA Letters (March 2013)

OSHA has cited a refinery with repeat, serious and o-t-s violations (PSM $281K)

EPA RMP Program 2 Citations $5,400 (NH3 Plant)

EPA RMP General Duty Clause citations $35,000 (release of H2 from a improperly installed gasket by the manufacturer of vessel – NOT the facility)

OSHA has cited a chemical facility with 14 safety violations (PSM NEP $63K)

What training is REQUIRED for “Incident Commanders”?

FDA looking to REQUIRE AED approvals

WISER for iOS 3.1

2013 Photo of the Week #12 (Fire Protection)

2013 Video of the Week #12 (Ladder)

OSHA’s 1st LOI of 2013 is a perfect example of how a how a group of workers may fall under both GI and Construction standards

What are the requirements when a component in my covered process was built to an OLD “out of circulation” RAGAGEP?

Drowning in PRCS (TN-OSHA #24-2008)

PRCS Fatality – acute heptane and toluene toxicity (TN-OSHA Fatality II #4 2010)

Fatal burns from Diesel Flash Fire (TN-OSHA #12-2009)

Forklift strikes overhead flammable liquid line causing flash fire fatality (TN-OSHA #21-2010)

LOTO Fatality – Caught in conveyor system (TN-OSHA II #28 – 2010)

Anyone who thinks EPA will not issue citations (NOVs) for not documenting WCS and ARS is WRONG… here is proof

“Getting Ready for the Unimagined:” Looking at the Emergency Operations Plan (USFA)

A traditional LOTO fatality – worker started equipment on another worker (TN-OSHA #23)

Clearing up a couple of LOTO myths

WARNING Signs of Electrical Dangers (from NFPA)

Safety from the perspective of EVERYBODY, SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, AND NOBODY

Emergency Egress and Fire Doors

A sign Spring is coming… Cal/OSHA Issues High Heat Advisory as Temperatures Rise Across the State

Fire Extinguishers… Did you know they have to be identified?

OSHA revises the Out Reach Program requirements again (2/2013)

Safety Advisory: Unauthorized Marking of Compressed Gas Cylinders