Industrial
CONFINED SPACE FATALITIES Two workers die while cleaning molasses tank in Queensland (two workers died while they were reportedly cleaning a molasses tank – the men, aged 52 and 48, died after being affected by fumes while cleaning the tank)
LOTO FATALITY OSHA investigating fatal accident at Michael Foods (fatal incident happened at about 11:15 AM when an employee was hurt after a dock leveler unexpected dropped unexpectedly – a dock leveler is often used to bridge the gap between a truck and the dock or warehouse floor – in 2014 OSHA fined the company more than $30,000 dollars after a worker died)
HOT WORK EXPLOSION Investigation Continues Into Accident At Senesco Marine (Two workers are in stable condition following an explosion and fire aboard a vessel at a Marine business – the accident happened while the workers were welding on top of a barge – debris from that explosion struck a propane tank causing a secondary explosion – the accident happened on a fuel barge, according to Coast Guard – it wasn’t clear if the barge had ever been in the water as it was under construction)
Family desperate to get injured lineman, father of 5, home (lineman, 39, volunteered to help restore power to the hurricane-battered island of Puerto Rico, but just days into his work, he plunged 80-feet to the ground – power workers in Puerto Rico are hoisted by helicopters high into the mountains to repair the island’s transmission towers – he was dangling below one of those helicopters when the accident happened)
Lineman Fall from Helicopter Family desperate to get injured lineman, father of 5, home (lineman, 39, volunteered to help restore power to the hurricane-battered island of Puerto Rico, but just days into his work, he plunged 80-feet to the ground – power workers in Puerto Rico are hoisted by helicopters high into the mountains to repair the island’s transmission towers – he was dangling below one of those helicopters when the accident happened)
GURADING/LOTO FATALITYWorker dies after northeastern Indiana industrial accident (woman, 23, was crushed to death after getting stuck in a machine at a plastics factory – she died of multiple crush force injuries – coroner‘s office ruled the death accidental)
LANDFILL FATALITY Worker Killed At Lorton Landfill Identified (worker, 52, was killed in an accident at a Landfill when he was pinned between a waste loader and a tractor trailer, suffered injuries to his upper body and pronounced dead at the scene)
FATALITY Officials: Worker killed in plant accident in North Carolina (worker killed in what is being called an industrial accident – cause of the accident isn’t known – No further details of the accident were provided)
FALL Worker injured in fall (worker fell and injured his head in an accident – worker was repairing a pipe on an elevated deck and fell some 1 1/2 stories to the ground, where he received an injury to his head)
FATAL FALL from BARGE Man dies after fall off barge in Livingston Co., KY (barge worker, 38, has died in what’s being called a work-related accident when he fell off of a barge into the Ohio River – he was pulled from the river shortly after he fell but died at the scene)
ELECTRICAL ARC FLASH Inpex worker burned while working on the project (employee was working on an energized switchboard at the time – when he attempted to change a component on the board, a minor explosion occurred because of the electricity running through it – explosion caused burns to the back of the man’s left hand and singed his beard – it is understood the worker did not know the board was energized at the time and an investigation into the incident is ongoing – he was taken to the on-site medical clinic and has since returned to work)
HOTWORK Officials Say Welding Work Sparked Fire near Brownsville Landfill (officials say they now know what sparked a five-acre fire at a landfill – a worker was welding on the property when the dry grass caught fire – roughly four acres of brush and railroad ties were burned after the fire broke out around 4 p.m.)
ELECTRICAL EXPLOSION Explosion blasts manhole covers in Edmonton, woman rescued after falling into hole (rescuers pulled an elderly woman from below ground after an explosion popped manhole covers and knocked out power – an underground electrical vault blast blew open manholes around 7:30 a.m. – rescuers found the woman, suffering what appeared to be a fractured ankle, about 45 minutes later using thermal imaging – she was about 3.6 metres down a hole and it took rescuers about half an hour to get her out – she was believed to have fallen in)
EXPLOSION Explosion at Lanolin Factory Rocks the Uruguayan Capital (a reactor in a factory dedicated to the production of lanolin and its derivatives exploded – the explosion occurred in a reactor where the mixture for the product is made)
UPDATE on FATAL COMBUSTIBLE DUST EXPLOSION Veolia Canadian subsidiary and manager acquitted of criminal negligence charges over fatal 2014 explosion (a company and one of its managers have been acquitted of criminal negligence charges over a 2014 workplace explosion at a plant that killed one worker and injured five others – In her decision, Justice Deborah Austin said there were mistakes, errors and omissions attributable to the defendants that clearly constituted negligence but it was not proven to the high degree required for criminal negligence – workers were spraying melted aluminum wire on pipes as an anti-corrosion treatment – combustible aluminum dust was ignited by a fireball rolling into the shop from a dust collector parked outside – worker had testified the amount of dust in the air made it impossible to see from one end of the shop to the other – the dust was combustible but safety data for the wire being used cited no explosive hazard
AMMONIA Three treated after Whanganui Affco Imlay ammonia leak (three people have received medical treatment after an ammonia leak around 8.20pm – firefighters identified it was safe to send emergency workers in and then used water to keep the fumes down so people in the immediate area were safe – people working at the time of the leak were evacuated – one worker was taken to a Hospital with moderate injuries and two others were treated for minor injuries at the scene after the evacuation – the injured worker was treated and discharged overnight)
LOTO FATALITY UPDATE Intel factory death triggers $17,400 penalty against contractor (Oregon has levied a $17,400 penalty against a contractor after a manufacturing tool crushed one of the contractor’s employees, 49 – he and a colleague were providing scheduled maintenance on a manufacturing tool in an area known as the “Sort Floor” an automated area where robots collect products between various machines – while working on the tool, he and his colleague encountered a problem with a roller in the machine – the deceased went inside the large tool in an effort to fix it himself and while he was inside, at his direction, his colleague sought to move a tray inside the machine in one direction by pressing a keypad on the machine – instead, the tray rotated in the opposite direction and moved the deceased over the apex of the machine and down to the other side – it took 16 minutes for facility emergency responders to free him from the machine and three minutes after that an ambulance crew declared him dead – medical examiner listed his cause of death as “compression asphyxia”)
HOT WORK FIRE 1ST AVENUE FIRE CAUSED BY WELDING SPARKS NEAR CARDBOARD, FUEL TANK (the cause of the blaze originated from flying welding sparks near cardboard and a fuel tank – more than a dozen firefighters from three different halls responded to the incident – estimated damage cost ranges from $80,000 to $100,000 – five employees were in the building but escaped, no injuries have been reported)
UPDATE More settlements reached in West, Texas, plant explosion (the town of West, Texas, and several other plaintiffs have reached settlements and partial settlements of claims stemming from a deadly April 2013 explosion – settlements are the latest among more than 200 claims filed in the aftermath of the blast that killed 15 people and left dozens injured)
EXPLOSION Two hurt in ‘small explosion’ at plant (a flammable peppermint oil may be to blame for what’s been described as a “small explosion” at a wafer plant – hat sparked the fire remains unknown – it turned out not to be a serious incident, initial indications suggested that the scenario could have been much worse – two individuals suffered relatively minor injuries – general manager got a cut to his head that sent him to the hospital, he was back to the plant in the next couple hours – another plant employee got some of his hair got burned)
FIRE Fire breaks out at Bruce Mansfield power plant (crews from 20 fire departments were called to a fire at a Power Plant – the fire, which was reported shortly before 4:30 a.m., broke out in ductwork – flames spread through the roof – plant is investigating what exactly caused the fire and how much damage was done to the plant)
FIRE Officials say no injuries in Thursday fire at new Tyson plant in Green Forest (no one was injured when a fire broke out just before 4 p.m. – the fire was reported in a maintenance room – plant was evacuated and most of the fire was put out with fire extinguishers, but firefighters were called in)
FIRE Fire breaks out at Craven County chemical plant (a fire broke out at a chemical plant around 3:30 a.m. – crews had the flames under control as of 5 a.m. – fire was contained to a small section of the plant – it is unclear whether or not anyone was at the facility when the fire broke out, but no injuries have been reported – cause of the fire is still under investigation)
Construction
CRANE FATALITY Hexham construction worker killed by falling crane boom on Queensferry Crossing (worker, 62, died from a chest injury after being struck by a crane boom extension weighing 550kg – he was employed as a leading hand/foreman – the crane in question had been out of use the day before the accident due to a burst hose that was leaking hydraulic oil – the accident was caused by the worker removing a central pin which was holding a fly jib on to the boom arm of the crane, causing the jib to fall to the ground, striking him on the head and body)
WORKZONE FATALITY Man who died at Queensland construction site was 62-year-old from Dartmouth (worker, 62, died after being struck by a vehicle at a construction site – he was pronounced dead at the scene – he was working at the Department of Transportation work site and was not in a vehicle when he was hit at 3 p.m.)
ELECTRICAL Construction worker seriously shocked in Venice (construction worker, 56, was seriously shocked while working – rescuers found a man lying on the ground with electrical burns – he was working on equipment in the electrical room when the accident happened, throwing him across the room)
WALL COLLAPSES onto TRENCH 3 workers injured in DC building collapse, officials say (three construction workers were injured after a building collapse – the building appeared to be having construction work performed when a partial standing wall fell onto a trench where workers were located – two workers were rushed to the hospital with serious injuries and one worker suffered minor injuries)
MISSCELLANEOUS
ONE KILLED, ONE RESCUED IN STORAGE CONTAINER ACCIDENT (staff member of a sports center died and a colleague was injured when they were trapped inside a sea container – the box was used to store compressed wood biomass pellets for the swimming pool heating system there – firefighters broke open the container and rescued the two unwell workers – No word on how they were locked in there and if it was extended time period or the wood pellets were decomposing causing a HAZ ATM)
Drunk snow plow driver had blood alcohol level nine times legal limit (state worker, 36, was caught operating a snow plow with a blood alcohol level nine times the legal limit for commercial drivers — his fourth DWI arrest to date – he had been plowing snow for the Department of Transportation, nailing two cars along the way, when he was stopped by cops – in the first crash, he sideswiped a vehicle, got out to inspect the damage, and then returned to his DOT truck to continue his route – he then hit the second car as he attempted to drive away – there were no injuries in either accident)
EXPLOSION @ GOLF CLUB Worker fights for life after Townsville Golf Club blast (maintenance worker, 43, is fighting for his life with serious burns after a methane explosion at a Golf Club – investigators are determining if a build-up of methane in the club’s sewage treatment plant led to the explosion – he was in a critical but stable condition overnight with burns to 15 per cent of his body – paramedics initially treated the man in the toilets of the golf club – there was moderate damage to the building)