LOTO Accidents 3

LOTO Accidents #3

This page was last updated on 05/06/2010

UPDATE Injured Owens Corning worker released from hospital
By Jonathan Athens Advocate Reporter 
NEWARK — Federal inspectors are investigating Owens Corning in the wake of a mishap that cost a 48-year-old Newark man his right arm. Thomas Brunner was discharged Wednesday from Grant Medical Center in Columbus, four days after he was injured in a machinery accident. Inspectors with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration began their investigation March 1, the day of the accident and are still investigating, said Debra Zubaty, area director. Owens Corning spokesman Frank Giovannelli said that at the time of the mishap, Brunner was operating a “flock feed” machine that separates fibers to make a special type of insulation used with HVAC systems. Giovannelli said there have been no reported accidents involving that machine in recent years, adding the company is conducting its own investigation. “We’re still trying to determine what happened,” he said. Brunner, who was unavailable for comment, has worked for the company for 26 years and returned to the plant briefly Thursday to say hello to his fellow workers, Giovannelli said. “He looks good. I can’t tell you how great it is to see him. It was a happy moment for us at the plant,” he said. 

UPDATE Firm is fined on machine injuries
Mar 7, 2003, 12:22:00
A worker suffered injuries to her arm after her clothing became entangled in machinery, a court heard. Ann Ockold was operating a pedestal drill at Thomas William Lench Ltd, in Carnegie Road, Rowley Regis, when she was pulled into the workings. Warley Magistrates’ heard yesterday that the 41-year-old was lucky not to have been more seriously injured in the accident on September 17 last year. The long-established firm, which makes nuts and bolts, were fined a total of £2,500 plus £929 costs after they admitted two charges of breaching health and safety laws by failing to prevent access to dangerous machinery parts. Gareth Langston, prosecuting for the Health and Safety Executive, said inadequate guards were fitted to the machine, leaving several centimetres of the drill workings exposed. The accident happened as Mrs Ockold, who was wearing rubber gloves and a knitted cardigan, switched her machine back on after stopping to remove a build-up of swarf. “She reached up to turn the machine back on and her sleeve became entangled and her arm was pulled onto the drilling machine,” Mr Langston said. He added that the second charge related to a visit by HSE inspectors six weeks later, when workers were still using the machine. Mr Millband, defending, said the company, which had a previously clean record in safety matters, had now scrapped the machines. 

FACTORY WORKER HURT 
10:30 – 06 March 2003 
A Factory worker was taken to Cheltenham General Hospital when he injured his hand in an accident. Jason Smith, 27, from Pershore, was working at Dowty Engineered Seals Ltd in Ashchurch, when the accident happened at 11am yesterday. Facilities manager Dick Tranter said: “He caught his left hand on the roller. It was not crushed. We don’t believe he broke anything.” An investigation into the accident was being carried out, he said. 

Worker loses a finger
By Karen Robes Staff writer 
Wednesday, March 05, 2003 – LONG BEACH It was like finding a needle in a haystack, or, in the case of seven Long Beach fire and police members, a severed finger in a local furniture factory. Authorities on Wednesday recovered the digit of a Los Angeles furniture maker and rushed it to St. Mary Medical Center, where doctors were laboring to reattach it, said Fire Capt. Scott Clegg. Around 9 a.m., a car with three employees from a Willard Street furniture business arrived at Station No. 13, where firefighters met a man grasping his bloody right hand, said station Capt. Paul Lepore. The victim accidentally sliced three of his digits and lopped off his ring finger with a large table saw. While a rescue team rushed the victim to the hospital, fire and police officials drove to the factory and sifted through sawdust and stacks of wood for the missing finger. Within 15 minutes of their search, firefighter John Davis spot- ted the finger in a pile of wood. The victim, Abel Oviedo, 33, of Los Angeles, remained in surgery most of the day, but Clegg said he is expected to have successful reattachment of his ring finger. 

Officials investigate accident at Owens; Worker in fair condition after losing arm
By David Gilligan Advocate Reporter 
NEWARK — Owens Corning officials on Monday were trying to figure out how an employee lost his arm while operating a piece of machinery at the Case Avenue plant. Thomas Brunney, 48, of 419 S. Second St., was listed in fair condition at Grant Medical Center in Columbus, where he has remained since the accident that occurred shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday. Brunney, the operator of a machine that manufactures HVAC insulation, suffered a mid-arm amputation during the accident, said Frank Giovannelli, a spokesman for Owens Corning. Brunney was transported to Grant by an ambulance because poor weather had grounded medical helicopters, Giovannelli said. Additional details were not available Monday, but Giovannelli said the company will continue to investigate the accident. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration also planned to investigate, according to its regional office in Columbus on Monday. This is the second major industrial accident in less than a year at the Case Avenue plant. Charles Scott Laughery, a 36-year-old industrial electrician who lived on Pierce Avenue, was killed in October from injuries he suffered while he was repairing packaging equipment. OSHA found no violations in a subsequent investigation that concluded in December, and the death was ruled accidental. Although not classified as an industrial accident, a worker from an outside company doing contracting work for Owens Corning at the Case Avenue plant died after he fell 25 feet off a roof in 2000. Ed Shields, a spokesman for Glass, Pottery, Plastics and Allied Workers Local 244, said Monday that the union is still gathering details on the latest incident and declined further comment on safety regulations at the Newark plant of Toledo-based Owens Corning. The union represents nearly 800 of the plant’s 1,100 employees, including Brunney. 

Worker dies while trying to fix roller coaster in mall 
The Associated Press 3/1/03 10:34 PM
LIVONIA, Mich. (AP) — An assistant store manager at a mall here was killed Saturday when he was run over by the indoor roller coaster he was repairing, according to a broadcast report. The employee of the Jeepers restaurant and game room in the Wonderland Mall was standing along the rails and looking at a potential trouble spot when the train hit him from behind, WJBK-TV reported. Investigators said they believed the 43-year-old Dearborn Heights man, whose name was not released, was killed instantly, the station said. An officer who answered the telephone at Livonia police headquarters said no information about the accident was available Saturday night.

UPDATE Quebecor fined for violations
By MARDEE ROBERTS The Leaf-Chronicle 
The Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration has fined the Clarksville Quebecor plant $15,300 for four serious violations following investigation of the Dec. 20, 2002 death of a worker. The company was notified by certified mail sent Wednesday about the results of the TOSHA investigation into the death of Donald Wilkerson, 50, of Cunningham Lane, who was pulled into and crushed by a shrink-wrap machine at the International Boulevard plant. The Clarksville Quebecor plant prints magazines and employs about 1,000 regular and temporary workers. Quebecor World Clarksville was unavailable for comment about the TOSHA report. The company has 20 days after receiving the citation to decide if it will appeal, said John Winkler, TOSHA administrator. In a prepared news release, an official with the Graphic Communications International Union said TOSHA was correct to cite the company in Wilkerson’s death. “But $15,000 is a small price to pay for a person’s life,” said Duncan Brown, vice president of the union, which has members at the Clarksville plant. Local union president Patsy Shepherd, a co-worker of Wilkerson’s, said she agreed. “Donald’s death was a preventable tragedy. Quebecor must correct the problems in the plant before someone else gets hurt or killed,” Shepherd said in the same prepared release. Each of the four violations was classified as serious in the TOSHA report. A serious violation is one where there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result and that the employer knew, or should have known, of the hazard, according to OSHA guidelines. TOSHA reported Quebecor failed to outline the proper shut down procedures for the shrink-wrap machine, did not properly train workers to safely maintain the machine, did not provide the necessary tools to shut down the machine, and did not supply guarding to protect workers from the moving parts. The company was fined $3,600 each for the first three violations. The fourth violation, about providing guarding around the machine, crried a $4,500 fine, Winkler said. According to Winkler, the maximum fine per violation is $7,000. 

UPDATE Boss fined after worker’s fingers were sliced off Feb 27 2003
By Paul Mcmillan, The Evening Chronicle
A factory worker lost four fingers and a thumb in an industrial accident, a court was told. Justin Tindale’s fingers and thumb were sliced off when he caught his hand in an unguarded saw. Amazingly, he managed to scoop them up with his other hand and surgeons were able to re-attach the severed digits in a 17-hour operation. The accident happened when the 20-year-old went to remove a blockage from the saw at the factory of the Team Valley Windows company, based on Gateshead’s Team Valley trading estate. The town’s magistrates were told that Mr Tindale had been cutting up UPVC at the time. Laura Lyons, prosecuting for the Health & Safety Executive, said the firm’s proprietor, Thomas Vaughan, had failed to ensure part of the guard on the trigger-activated machine was in place at the time of accident. Mr Tindale was trying to remove a small piece of UPVC which could not be reused when his hand came into contact with the exposed blade. Mrs Lyons said: “He let go of the triggers, walked round to pick up this small piece and, as he did so, his hand inadvertently became exposed to this small section. “In an instant all four fingers and his thumb were amputated.” Mr Tindale remained calm enough to gather the missing digits with his other hand. Mrs Lyons added: “Justin picked up the fingers himself, aware of how important this was. “Because he did that, the hospital, with great care, managed to sew them back on.” Mr Vaughan co-operated fully with the following investigation and took instant action to replace the missing guard section. His solicitor, Jim Dais, said that the firm now has a new £7,000 saw to avoid any repeat of the accident. He added: “Mr Vaughan very much regrets the accident and accepted straight away that if the guard had been in position then that accident would not have occurred. “Following the accident he made sure that an accident of this type could not take place again.” Vaughan pleaded guilty to contravening health and safety regulations by not ensuring the guard was in place. He was fined £750 and ordered to pay £500.40 costs. 

Tractor shreds farmboy
25/02/2003 20:29 – (SA) Riot Hlatshwayo 
Ermelo – A 15-year-old farm worker was shredded by a tractor-drawn grass cutter two weeks ago but has not been buried yet because his family is too poor. Nkosinathi Lucas Lephoto was caught in the sharp blades when the driver tractor drove past him on Klipkrans farm in Ermelo on February 14, said spokesperson for the Ermelo police station Captain Carla Prinsloo on Tuesday. “The first time the tractor driver realised something was wrong was when the machine made a strange noise as if something was trapped in it,” she said. The boy’s body was so badly shredded, that various body parts had to be collected and taken to the local mortuary. Lephoto was a casual worker on the farm and had arrived from Daggakraal near Wakkerstroom to join his aunt who works there. On Tuesday, the boy’s family approached the department of land affairs’ regional office in Ermelo and asked for a donation so they could bury him. Head of the office, Star Motswege, said the family was very poor and that he had told them to return on Wednesday for further negotiations. A land rights NGO in Mpumalanga, The Rural Action Committee (Trac) said it was unfortunate that farmers and employees waited until tragedy struck before discussing funeral arrangements in the event of a fatal accident. Director Chris Williams said the organisation would conduct its own investigation and try find a solution for the family. Farmer Petrus Taljaard was unable to comment as his line went dead. His cellphone was set on voicemail. – African Eye News Service

UPDATE Factory fines for machine accident Feb 25 2003
By Ian Fannon Echo Reporter
CONTROVERSIAL chipboard factory Sonae has been fined after a worker was crushed by heavy machinery. The plant was today facing a legal bill topping £30,000 after admitting offences under the health and safety at work act. Knowsley magistrates court heard how worker Ian Fairclough was lucky to escape with his life after the accident on the production line in April 2000. He was knocked unconscious and suffered three fractured ribs, a broken collar bone and a punctured lung when his body was crushed between a moving carriage arm and a conveyor. Mr Fairclough, who still works at Sonae, was off work for more than three months and has been left with a disability down his right side. He still needs treatment for post traumatic stress disorder nearly three years after the incident. The court heard yesterday how Sonae admitted its training procedures and safety precautions were inadequate at the time of the accident. The company apologised to Mr Fairclough and promised the court it took health and safety matters seriously. But District Judge Michael Morris said: “It is important that firms such as Sonae do not sacrifice safety for profits. “In this case, more care should have been taken and more precautions put in place to ensure such accidents do not happen.” He fined Sonae £ 15, 000 and awarded costs of £16,703 against it. The accident happened while machinery was still being installed at the plant by German firm Dieffenbacher. A health and safety executive inspector had visited just four weeks earlier to check procedures and warned that risk assessments needed to be carried out. The production line was regularly breaking down to the point where the conveyor belt needed unblocking up to four times an hour. It was Mr Fairclough’s job to ensure the line kept running, the court heard. But to do so it involved entering the danger area where machinery was running. Staff at the factory, through lack of training, believed that entering a gate into that area would immediately shut the power off to the entire line, when in fact it did not.

UPDATE Man’s fingers were cut off Feb 21 2003
By John Hall Daily Post Correspondent
WORKMATES packed the fingers of a colleague in frozen peas in a desperate attempt to save them after they were sliced off in a North Wales factory. Hazlewood Foods, of Abenbury Way, on Wrexham industrial estate, yesterday admitted failing to ensure the safety of an employee. It was fined £10,000 with £10,000 costs after the worker had two fingers cut off while using a food-processing machine. Town magistrates were told that Christopher Lowe, 51, lost the tops of the two fingers from his right hand in spite of attempts by other workers to preserve them in frozen peas in case surgeons could sew them on again. He was seriously injured when he reached up and put his right hand into a mixing bowl from which the protective guard had been removed. Tudor Williams, prosecuting for the Health and Safety Executive, said a workmate saw a glove with two fingers missing and realised what had happened. He looked inside the machine and saw the two glove fingers there, complete with Mr Lowe’s severed fingers inside. He put them in a bag of frozen peas to see if they could be preserved and stitched back on, but they were too badly damaged. Mr Lowe was taken to hospital and after surgery, spent two days as an inpatient followed by several weeks of treatment. He returned to work four months later, doing a different job. The injury had caused obvious permanent damage and he was still having trouble with the grip in his right hand. A sliding guard with an electro-magnetic switch should have covered the machine so that it was impossible to operate while the guard was removed. Reports from other work-ers revealed that over a period before the accident the machine had often been used with the guards disabled. Taking the magnet off part of the guard and putting in the operating position completed the electrical contact necessary to start the motor. A foot pedal with a button that had to be pressed to make the machine work had been placed on the table and wedged against the machine to keep it permanently in the “on” position, making it ineffective. The company should have made checks and known about it and they had not carried out a full risk assessment. Christopher Green, defending, said the foot pedal was installed as a second safety measure following a visit by a health and safety officer. The company had a good safety record. Paul Holloway, presiding, said the magistrates had considered the aggravating features that the shield was not in place at the time of the accident and the machine had been used like that for the last four weeks. 

UPDATE Employee gained access to dangerous parts of machine
In March 2002 Kenneth Kowalczyk, an employee of Grampian Country Chickens (Banff) Ltd was operating a hock-cutting machine when it became blocked. On attempting to access the blockage he contacted a circular cutting blade and sustained severe injury to his hand and wrist. His employers admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act in the circumstances of the accident and the company was fined £5,000 at Banff Sheriff Court. Mr Kowalczyk was insufficiently informed and trained in the correct action to take when the machine became blocked. Sheriff Alan Finlayson commented: “It is a serious matter and the company accepts that training and supervision was less than adequate.” The Sheriff did however accept that the company had responded correctly to the accident. The production line is now fully enclosed, and properly guarded. 

Employee Reportedly Dragged Through Car Wash; 21-Year-Old Suffers Minor Injuries
February 20, 2003
A local car wash employee was injured Thursday when he reportedly got caught in the machinery. The 21-year-old man got his foot caught in the roller that moves the cars through the car wash, Local 4 learned. The mechanism reportedly dragged the worker for a short distance. Emergency crews rushed the worker to St. John Hospital. He reportedly suffered minor foot injuries. The car wash is located on Seven Mile Road and Reno in Detroit. 

Worker’s legs trapped in harvester
19feb03
A FARM worker has been seriously injured after his legs became stuck in a potato harvester. It took Victorian emergency services more than three hours to free the man last night. He was trapped while working on the harvester at a property near Murrayville about 8pm (AEDT). The man, believed to be aged in his late teens, was flown to the Royal Melbourne hospital with a fractured leg and severe lacerations. A Rural Ambulance Victoria spokesman said his condition was described as serious but stable. WorkSafe Victoria is investigating the incident. 

Worker dies in workplace mishap 
Herald Reporter 
A FITTER and turner employed by the Gold Star White Sugar company, situated in the heavy industrial area in Harare died a painful death last week when an elevator he was repairing at the company’s milling plant amputated his arm. Police spokesman Chief Superintendent Bothwell Mugariri identified the deceased as Mr Isaac Nyazvigo (26) of Mufakose. Chief Supt Mugariri said Mr Nyazvigo was repairing the elevator in the company of two others when the accident occurred. “The elevator suddenly started moving cutting the left arm of Mr Nyazvigo in the process,” he said. “The deceased was ferried to Harare Central Hospital where he was pronounced dead on admission.” There were unconfirmed reports alleging that the accident resulted in the plant stopping operations for two days last week. Chief Supt Mugariri said officials from the Department of Occupational Health and Safety were in the process of investigating the accident. “It is only when the investigations are completed and forwarded to us that we can decide whether to open a docket or not,” he said. 

Dye tank burns five
Cassie Tarpley Star Staff Writer
CLIFFSIDE — A 200-degree mixture of dye, chemicals and water under pressure critically burned a textile plant worker Friday, sending the woman to a Georgia burn treatment center. Carla Edwards’ injuries reportedly included burns over about 90 percent of her body after what was first reported as an explosion in a dye house at Cone Mills Cliffside plant, 3478 U.S. 221A. “There wasn’t actually an explosion,” Mark Franklin, human resources manager for the plant, told The Star. “There was an expansion tank that the cover was under pressure, and that was opened while under pressure,” Franklin said. “That allowed hot dye and the chemicals inside to splatter on the associates in the area.” Five employees were in the room, he said. Four of them — Danny Jolley, Leslie Williams, Tad Brackett and Linnie Walker — were taken to Rutherford Hospital, said DeLane Davis, the hospital’s public information officer. “All were treated and released,” Ms. Davis said. “All were found to be in good condition.” The incident happened about 11 a.m. Ms. Edwards, the fifth person, was taken to Spartanburg Regional Medical Center, said Franklin, who would not identify the workers. However, their identities were confirmed by officials at the two hospitals. Franklin did say the woman had burns “over a significant portion of her body.” Ms. Edwards was flown by helicopter Friday afternoon to Joseph M. Still Burn Center at Doctors Hospital in Augusta, Ga. At 6:30 p.m. Jackie Voss, clinical manager in the burn unit, said she was in critical condition. An investigation of exactly how the incident happened had not begun Friday afternoon, Franklin said. “Our main concern right now is for our associate and their family and the others involved,” he said. The released water and chemicals from the tank could have reached temperatures of more than 200 degrees. Franklin did not know how Ms. Edwards became burned more than the others, he said. “She was just exposed to more of the splatter than the others. We’re still trying to determine exactly what took place.” However, Ms. Edwards was closest to the tank, standing next to it, according to maintenance mechanic Danny Jolley’s account of the incident. Cliffside Fire Department, Rutherford County Emergency Medical Service and Rutherford County Rescue Squad responded to the plant. Personnel were working to contain the area of the spill, Franklin said, “And we’re making sure no others are exposed.” He did not say what chemicals were involved. The Cliffside textile manufacturer employs about 500 at the plant, he said. That’s on all shifts, and only part of the work force was on duty at the time. “In that department, less than 10 people,” he said. “It’s a very small area.” No other parts of the plant were affected and plant operations were not disrupted, he said. “Of course, the area where the accident occurred, production was stopped in that area.” Franklin acknowledged the incident as “certainly a serious accident,” but said, “In the company and at this plant location, we’ve had an outstanding safety record over the years. We certainly consider safety our number one priority.” Cone Mills produces apparel and home furnishings fabrics. Headquartered in Greensboro, the company has more than 3,000 employees in five manufacturing facilities located in North and South Carolina, and a joint venture operation in Mexico. Greensboro officials did not return The Star’s calls Friday. The Cliffside plant, built by Raleigh Rutherford Haynes, was bought in 1927. 

UPDATE Compensation for missing fingers 
11.02.2003 4.06 am 
A Lower Hutt company has been fined $10,000 after a worker had two fingers amputated following a workplace accident. Precision Ltd was sentenced yesterday in the Wellington District Court after being prosecuted by Occupational Safety and Health. The fine will be paid to the victim, whose three fingers were crushed in a punch and forming press last year. 

UPDATE OSHA Finds Major Problems in Accident Leading to Critical Injury of Foundry Worker in Milwaukee; Company Faces $127,750 Fine for Safety Shortcomings
MILWAUKEE — Serious injuries sustained by a foundry worker at Maynard Steel Casting Company, Milwaukee, could have been avoided by observing appropriate safety procedures involving the use of abrasive grinding machinery, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which has proposed a $127,750 fine. “Protecting the health and safety of workers in America is one of the chief concerns of the U.S. Department of Labor,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. “Our regulations prescribe excellent methods to keep workers safe from the hazards associated with grinding wheels and we will make certain these regulations are followed.” Milwaukee Area Office Director for OSHA George Yoksas said the agency opened an inspection of the firm following the Aug. 6, 2002 accident that occurred when an abrasive wheel on a swing grinder exploded, propelling fragments and the wheel guard itself some fifty feet and striking the grinder operator. The worker was hospitalized in critical condition following the incident and has not yet fully recovered. As a result of that investigation, OSHA has proposed willful and serious citations alleging improper or lack of equipment safety testing and maintenance, and issues involving machine guarding. The company has 15 working days from receipt of the citations to appeal before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. 

UPDATE Firm fined for horror accident Feb 8 2003
By Matt Casey, The Evening Chronicle
A worker suffered horrific injuries when crushed by a spiking machine. Three vertebrae were shattered, a lung punctured, ribs broken and a knee-joint dislocated during the accident at car component factory SAI Automotive in Washington. Paul Smith, a father of one in his early twenties from Sunderland, had to have a steel plate fitted into his back . The firm was fined £14,000 with £1,540 costs by Houghton-le-Spring magistrates after it admitted failing to ensure the safety of an employee. Mr Smith was working alone on the carpet- moulding production line at the factory on the Patterson industrial estate in June 2001. The firm makes more than one million carpets and trims for the Nissan car factory in Washington. Mr Smith climbed into the machine to change the spiking system for the shape of the carpet, but as he bent down, the upper spiking section suddenly lowered, crushing and trapping him in the machine . The upper spiking system should have been controlled by a beam system but it had been set up wrongly. Laura Lyons, prosecuting for the Health & Safety Executive, said the lower section of the machine had previously been welded. When the accident happened this caused the lower section to collapse – otherwise Mr Smith would have been killed. Mrs Lyons added: “There should’ve been a clearer system of working and it should’ve been monitored by the employers. It’s a very dangerous piece of equipment to operate. It’s a complicated and sophisticated system and one the operator could not have been expected to fully understand.” Solicitor Jonathan Dunkley, for the firm, said: “The company was absolutely devastated by this accident and desperately sorry to have lost its unblemished record on health and safety issues. “Mr Smith is making a good physical recovery and the firm would welcome him back, perhaps on part-time duties. The firm is fully supportive of him and will be paying compensation in another court.” The machine was originally designed to be operated by two workers. But to help production one worker operated it and was instructed to seek help from a team leader or other officers whenever there was a need to change the size of the spiking system. Mr Dunkley added: “Clearly this instruction wasn’t followed and in the weeks before this accident it became custom practice for an operator to take it upon himself to do it alone when resizing was needed. “The firm was unaware of this, and it was an unsafe and unsatisfactory practice.” Since the accident the firm introduced new safety measures which are constantly reviewed and revised.”

El Dorado Hospital elevator crushes worker
ROMANO CEDILLOS Tucson Citizen Feb. 6, 2003
An employee of El Dorado Hospital was crushed to death yesterday while working inside an elevator shaft, a Tucson Fire Department official said. Carlton Salsbury, 60, a maintenance technician with the hospital, was working at El Dorado Plaza, 1420 N. Wilmot Road, which houses medical offices near the main hospital building, when the accident happened, said Sgt. Marco Borboa, a Tucson Police Department spokesman. The man and a co-worker were performing maintenance at 1:30 p.m. on an elevator at the medical complex near the hospital. The man was crushed between the top of the elevator and the ceiling of the elevator shaft, said Battalion Chief Randy Ogden of the Tucson Fire Department. He said it was unclear exactly what caused the accident, but the man was on top of an elevator compartment when the accident happened. Officials of the Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health could not be reached last night. In 1998, a Tucson man fell down an elevator shaft during the construction of the Federal Courthouse, at West Congress Street and South Granada Avenue. Lloyd L. Gainous Jr., a bricklayer, was partially paralyzed after falling 50 feet down the shaft. He suffered severe head injuries. Investigators for the state’s Division of Occupational Health and Safety determined that neither general contractor Swinerton & Walberg, a Los Angeles-based company, nor B&B Masonry Co., a Tucson-based subcontractor, was at fault. Also during the construction of the courthouse, a Tucson mother of three was critically injured when she was crushed by a 5,200-pound maintenance elevator counterbalance. Kristina Repasch, who was 31 at the time of the incident, had torso and head injuries. Capt. Brian Delfs, a Tucson Fire Department spokesman, said the large coil springs that cushion the weights at ground level also keep the weights from touching the ground. That probably saved Repasch from being killed, he said. 

UPDATE Corus fined for fatal accident HSW breach
Corus has been prosecuted and fined £10,000 with £1,286 costs after admitting failures that led to the death in an industrial accident of fitter Bob Powlay, 54, at its Stockton, Teesside steel plant. Mr Powlay was fatally injured in October 2000, Teesside Magistrates Court heard how a 3.5 tonne steel plate fell on him, severely injuring him. He was working at a conveyor belt when a proximity switch was activated, causing the plate to move. He died some weeks later in hospital. Referring to this, HSE’s Adrian Penn said: “The company knew the machinery could start up automatically and suitable, appropriate, effective preventative measures had not been taken. Employees lacked specific knowledge of the risk and how to minimise it.” Corus acknowledged that Mr Powlay had insufficient information, but said that signage indicated a requirement for isolation before proceeding. After the hearing Mrs Powlay commented: “I thought it would have been the maximum fine and I’m a little bit disappointed. I just think what a waste of a life, for someone who was so well loved and so needed.” 

Woman Injured in Industrial Accident 
Location: Danville, VA Posted: February 04, 2003 11:12 PM EST
A Southside woman is still hospitalized after getting her arm caught in a piece of stainless steel machinery Monday night. Nikita Sydnor works at the Nestle plant in Danville. Rescue squads were called out just after 10:00 Monday night. It took them more than two hours to free Sydnor from the machine. She was then airlifted to Duke Medical Center where she will undergo surgery on her arm. The Nestle plant manufactures refrigerated pastas. Plant managers plan to investigate the accident. OSHA files show the plant has a good safety record. OSHA last inspected Nestle in 1995. At that time there were no safety complaints.

UPDATE Worker lost his foot trying to clean unguarded machine
A Grampian fish processing company has been fined £3,000 for failing to meet the requirements of the Health and Safety at Work Act in the circumstances of an accident in which their employee, George Milne, 53, lost his foot. The accident at Fresh Catch’s Peterhead processing plant occurred when Mr Milne attempted to clean a water filtration machine. While doing so he lost his footing, trapping his left foot under a moving roller, the equipment’s protective guarding was not in place at the time. His foot required to be amputated later in hospital. Those present at Peterhead Sheriff Court heard how a colleague, without authority, had given instruction to Mr Milne to climb up to the machine’s gantry even if a ladder was unavailable to access the blockage. Additionally, this work was not one of Mr Milne’s allocated duties. A very serious breach Christopher Anderson, Fresh Catch’s Managing Director, explained that a breaker switch is now fitted to the machine. Sheriff Malcolm Garden commented: “I think I have to take account of the fact that having a piece of machinery unguarded is a very serious breach. However, this is a company with an otherwise excellent record. I take the view that they did consider and activate steps that this won’t happened again and this shows they are responsible employers.” Mr Milne said after the prosecution:”I knew the factory was guilty from day one.” 

Worker’s arm crushed at plant; Supervisor blames language barriers, newness to the job
KYTJA WEIR Staff Writer
MARSHVILLE – A man’s arm was caught and crushed in equipment Tuesday at a Marshville plant that recycles snack food into animal feed. General Manager Ric Chapman said the accident at the Bakery Feeds plant came from a misunderstanding fueled by the worker’s newness to the job and language barriers. Steven Christopher Ruiz, 29, of Paces Avenue in Matthews had worked in the 30-person plant about two weeks when an augur — a 9-inch-wide and 12-foot-long corkscrew that carries mashed snack food — stopped working around 10 a.m., Chapman said. Workers turned off the power and cleaned out the machine, Chapman said. ut when supervisors told workers to “clear” the area to test it, Chapman said, Ruiz put his right arm into it as the power started. His arm was sucked into the tool nearly up to his shoulder, medical responders said. Paramedics worked for an hour and a half to free him. Chapman said language barriers likely played a role but being new was the main reason Ruiz didn’t understand what was happening. “Obviously you wouldn’t stick your hand into the equipment if you thought we were going to turn it on,” he said. Half the staff at the facility is Latino, Chapman said. The company conducts some job training in Spanish, and a Latino supervisor was on-duty at the time, he said. Three Latino workers said they often receive instructions in Spanish and English. Ruiz was airlifted to the Carolinas Medical Center where he underwent surgery. 

UPDATE OSHA taking a closer look at on-the-job death; Victim’s real name discovered after body ID’d 
By Allison Floyd 
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating Friday’s on-the-job death of a 20-year-old man working at Trus Joist MacMillan in Colbert, but the agency would release little information, citing an ongoing investigation. G.T. Breezley, the spokesman for the Northeast Georgia OSHA office in Tucker, would say only that Limberg Aguilero Zarco was an employee of Flexstaff Services of Winder when he died Friday. Zarco died in an ambulance on the Trus Joist grounds, and he was pronounced dead at Athens Regional Medical Center at 3:47 a.m. Friday, according to Madison County Coroner Michelle Cleveland. Zarco likely died from injuries caused when a piece of machinery crushed his chest, she said, though the Georgia Bureau of Investigation hasn’t issued an autopsy report. The coroner was scheduled to meet with Zarco’s family Tuesday to explain the circumstances of his death. Zarco’s employers and co-workers knew him by another name, Reyes Estrada, according to the coroner, and officials learned his real name only after a man claiming to be his brother identified him at the hospital. ”We are working closely with the all the parties involved,” said Janet McRanie, regional communications manager with Weyerhaeuser Co., the parent company of Trus Joist. The mill was shut down for 30 hours, she said, once company executives learned Zarco hadn’t died of natural causes. ”Our sympathy goes out to the Reyes family, and our prayers are with them in this very difficult time,” McRanie said. All workers, including temporary workers, receive safety training, she said. Trus Joist MacMillan manufactures and distributes lumber products for both residential and industrial construction projects. The Colbert plant manufactures Parallam, an engineered lumber product used for bridge and industrial construction projects.

UPDATE Broken arm was lucky break for worker
Peter Davies, an employee of Krono-span of Chirk, chipboard manufacturers, may have broken his arm in an industrial accident, but nevertheless must consider himself lucky that he did not put his arm on the other side of a laminate flooring machine’s roller. If he had done so as his colleague pressed a button which inadvertently started the equipment it could have cost him his life, the in-running rollers would have seen to that. ccident waiting to happen Krono-span was fined £15,000, with £2,127 costs, at Wrexham Magistrates Court, having admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act in the circumstances of the accident. rosecuting, Clive Brookes said: “This was an accident waiting to happen, the rollers closed and trapped his arm in the machine, luckily he was on the side where it rolled his arm out. On the other side it would have rolled him into it. So it happened his arm was broken and thrown out and we are not dealing with a crush injury”.

UPDATE Firm fined £15,000 after worker’s arm got stuck in machine Jan 24 2003
By John Hall Daily Post Correspondent
CHIPBOARD giant Krono-span has been fined £15,000 following an accident when a man caught his arm in a rolling machine that was accidentally started while he was cleaning it. Magistrates at Wrexham were told that Peter Davies, who lived near the Chirk plant, was lucky because the rollers were revolving outwards and threw him clear instead of crushing him. He escaped with a broken bone in his wrist and returned to work within eight weeks. The company admitted failing to ensure the safety of an employee. They were ordered to pay £2,127 for the Health and Safety Executive’s investigation and costs. Clive Brookes, prosecuting, said the 70-metre long machine was used for making the extremely thin but durable resin impregnated surface film used on laminated flooring. Paper on a huge roll was fed in through a series of rollers and alternately covered with resin, then baked, cooled, covered again and heated again in sequence until it came out in a smooth sheet at the other end. The machine had been stopped and Mr Davies was cleaning bits of paper from inside it while his work mate Mark Butler was trying to find out why another roller had stuck in the wrong position. He was pressing buttons on the central control panel to see if the roller would move. Finally he pressed a button that – unknown to him or anyone else at the factory – was a delayed start button which set the machine rolling. Although the machine had been in use for three years the button had never been pressed before and no one knew what it was for. Mr Davies, on the other side, had just reached between the roll-ers and his arm was caught and twisted upwards but fortunately extruded and not pulled inwards. “This was an accident waiting to happen,” the prosecutor said. “Peter had been watching Mark trying to trip the roller. He walked away and reached through to pick up a piece of paper inside the open rollers. As he did so, Mark pressed a button which had never been pressed before and at that point the whole sequence came into operation, which was entirely unknown to the operators. “The rollers closed and trapped his arm in the machine. “Luckily he was on the side where it rolled his arm out. On the other side it would have rolled him into it. As it happened his arm was broken and thrown out and we are not dealing with a crush injury ” Stephen Edwards, defending, said the company had immediately disabled the switch and carried out a full risk assessment. There was no element of asking workers to take risks for profit motives. Although the management did not know of the delayed start buton they had to accept responsibility. 

UPDATE Lack of Worker Protection at Fairfield, Ala., Steel Plant Leads to OSHA Citations and $87,500 in Proposed Penalties
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration today cited the United States Steel Corporation, Fairfield Works, issuing one repeat and17 serious citations with proposed penalties totaling $87,500, following three separate inspections of the facility. OSHA began an investigation Aug. 13, after being notified of an Aug. 3 accident at the plant that resulted in the amputation of a worker’s feet. According to agency findings, the employee was standing on a coiled metal strip helping to lower the top of a dryer tank when an operator activated a mechanism that pulled the strip and the worker’s feet into machine rollers. The company received seven serious citations, including failing to use proper lockout/tagout procedures that would have rendered the machinery inoperable before maintenance work began. Proposed penalties for these citations are $33,500. “Following the OSHA requirement to make the machine inoperable could have prevented this accident,” said Roberto Sanchez, OSHA’s Birmingham area director. “The OSHA lockout/tagout standard was developed to protect workers from this type of accident.” After completion of the accident investigation, OSHA was informed of additional unsafe working conditions at the plant. Investigations, conducted on Sept. 17 and Oct. 22, resulted in one alleged repeat and 10 alleged serious citations with proposed penalties totaling $54,000. The company was cited for repeated failure to protect workers from safety hazards associated with the use of electrical power. The serious safety hazards included lack of machine guarding; exposing employees to falls from stairs, elevated working surfaces and slips on floors; improper labeling of hazardous chemicals; lack of confined space entry procedures and improper handling and storage of compressed gas cylinders. The Pittsburgh, Pa.-based company has 15 working days to contest the OSHA citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. The agency issues a serious citation when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result and the employer knew or should have known of the hazard. Staff from the Birmingham OSHA office, located at 2047 Canyon Rd., conducted the inspections; telephone: (205) 731-1534. OSHA also has a compliance assistant program, separate from its enforcement program, to help employers initiate and maintain an effective safety and health program at their facilities. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is dedicated to saving lives, preventing injuries and illnesses, and protecting America’s workers. Safety and health add value to business, the workplace and life. For more information, visit www.osha.gov. 

UPDATE Worker’s Death at Houston, Texas, Worksite Brings OSHA Penalties of $175,000
DALLAS — A Houston sheet metal fabrication shop’s failure to implement procedures to prevent the accidental startup of a waste handling machine contributed to the death of an employee, according to citations issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. “This company had been cited by OSHA in the past for similar violations,” said Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. “Following the appropriate safety standards might have prevented this accident.” Campo Sheet Metal Works Inc, a manufacturer of various metal works, was fined $175,000 for four alleged willful and two alleged serious violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, following an investigation at the company’s Houston facility on Lindbergh that began July 29, 2002, in response to the 17-year-old employee’s death. The company employs about 49 workers. According to Raymond Skinner, OSHA’s Houston South area director, the willful citations were for failing to develop and implement a “lockout/tag-out” program. Lockout/tag-out involves shutting off and locking out the energy source to a machine that is undergoing maintenance or repair to prevent an accidental startup. The company failed to train workers against the hazards of releasing stored energy, failed to conduct annual inspections of the employees as they performed the lockout/tag-out procedures to identify weaknesses in the program, and failed to remove employees to a safe position before equipment is energized. A willful violation is defined as an intentional disregard of or plain indifference to the requirements of the OSHA law and regulations. The two serious violations were for failing to train employees and require the use of personal protective equipment. A serious violation is one in which there is a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from the violation. Employers and employees with questions regarding workplace safety and health standards can call the nearest OSHA office. OSHA=s toll-free hotline may be used to report workplace accidents, fatalities, or situations posing imminent danger to workers. The number is 1-800-321-6742. The employer has 15 working days from receipt of the citations to either comply, request an informal conference with the OSHA area director, or contest the citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is dedicated to saving lives, preventing injuries and illnesses, and protecting America’s workers. Safety and health add value to business, the workplace and life. For more information, visit www.osha.gov.

Man killed in food mixer
A Midrand factory worker has been killed when he was pulled into a food mixing machine when someone accidentally switched it on while he was cleaning it. Johannesburg – A Midrand factory worker was killed on Tuesday morning when he was pulled into a food mixing machine, Johannesburg Emergency Services reported. Spokesperson Malcolm Midgley said Edmond Thobejane, an employee of Flavourome in the Midline Business Park in Midrand, apparently switched on the machine by accident while he was cleaning it. The machine pulled him in, killing him instantly. Midgley said firemen from the Midrand fire station had to disassemble the machine to remove the body. The machine was used to mix batches of food colouring and flavouring. Captain Martin Hulk of the Midrand police said no foul play was suspected. Police had taken note of the industrial accident.

UPDATE Saw injury firm must pay £5,000
By Bridget Ballance
A Staffordshire window manufacturer has been fined £5,000 after a 17-year-old worker was badly hurt using a saw which did not comply with health and safety regulations. Philip Betts was left permanently scarred by the accident at Enterprise Glass and Glazing Limited, formerly of Unit 10, Landywood Enterprise Park, Holly Lane, Great Wyrley. Director Paul Gillion, told Cannock magistrates that the firm admitted failing to ensure the safety of people using a manually fed pivoting head circular saw. Mr Guy Dale, of the Health and Safety Executive, said on April 8 Mr Betts, one of two employees, was using the saw, which was usual practice. His hand slipped off the lever, under the blade causing a serious laceration and severed tendons. He said he still had limited feeling and permanent scarring and arthritis. Factors leading to the accident included a missing spring and safety switch and a guard held in place by sticky tape. Mr Andrew McGuire, defending, said the firm stopped trading two months after the accident and had £6,000 in profits. Mr Betts was now work-ing in another job. Mr McGuire said the tape was an attempt to protect workers a saw bought from a firm which had gone into receivership meaning it was hard to quickly find a replacement spring. Magistrates chairman Graham Jones said the offence warranted a fine of £10,000 but he took into account the firm’s finances and it was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £850 costs.

Brentwood Plastics cited by OSHA, faces $109,000 penalty
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued citations and proposed a $109,000 penalty against Brentwood Plastics in Brentwood, Mo., for its failure to implement safety standards that led to a fatal accident last year. OSHA said a machine operator was caught between a rotating winder arm and an equipment frame last July, crushing his body and killing him. OSHA Regional Administrator Charles Adkins said managers were aware of a malfunctioning machine whose moving parts were being manually cleared by employees without locking out the source of power to the machine, as required by safety regulations. The citations include two alleged willful violations, six alleged serious violations and an allegation that the company failed to provide forklift training and certification to operators, and to guard energized, exposed electrical components. Willful violations are those committed with an intentional disregard of, or plain indifference to, the requirements of the OSHA Act and regulations, OSHA said. Serious violations are those in which violations of the Act or standards result in the substantial probability of death or serious physical harm, and that the employer knew or should have known of the hazard. Brentwood Plastics has 15 days to comply with the citations, request an informal conference or contest them, OSHA said. Brentwood Plastics produces bulk plastic films and employs about 28 workers.

UPDATE OSHA fines beef processor, contractor in worker’s maiming
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – A beef processor and a contractor have been fined nearly $100,000 for an accident that amputated the legs of a worker cleaning a meat grinder – the second such accident in two years. the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Wednesday cited the two firms for safety violations that contributed to the June 23, 2002 accident at S&C Beef Processors. Montgomery-based S&C was fined $22,500 for one willful safety violation and BMS Contract Services was fined $77,000 for one serious and two repeat violations, said Ken Atha, OSHA’s acting state director. S&C hired BMS to clean its processing machinery. Workers dismantle the meat grinder and turn it over to BMS for cleaning. During a shift change, an S&C worker started the grinder without knowing a BMS employee was inside. The victim’s legs were caught in the machine and amputated. Atha said the tragedy could have been prevented “if just one of the companies” had used its own lockout program and properly transferred control of the equipment. BMS, based in Burlington, Iowa, was cited previously after similar violations resulted in an amputation at the same plant, OSHA officials said. S&C, a subsidiary of ConAgra Foods, employs 550 workers in Montgomery. Both companies can appeal OSHA’s findings and penalty.

Accident victim dies of injuries
ARMANDO RIOS Bulletin Staff Writer
The 45-year-old Flippin man injured in an industrial accident at RLH Inc. Thursday afternoon, died later that night at Baxter Regional Medical Center. Tommy Ray Carpenter was injured just before 3:20 p.m. at RLH, 1305 Rossi Road. Mountain Home Patrolman Rodney Villiger arrived at the location and discovered Carpenter sitting on a rear axle of a garbage truck with his torso wedged between the back of the truck’s cab and the mechanism that pushes the trash compactor forward. By the time Villiger arrived, the pressure had already been released from the victim’s torso and he was only loosely wedged, the report stated. A witness stated Carpenter was working on the mechanism and told him to start the truck up, Villiger’s report stated. When the witness started the truck, he heard the mechanism start moving. The witness stated he immediately ran around and reversed the mechanism but it was too late. A supervisor stated that in addition to the main switch to start the mechanism, there are two additional switches that he could have accidentally switched on. 

Severed hand sewn back after seven hours in plastic bag
Doctors managed to save a man’s severed hand after he stored it in a plastic bag for more than seven hours. Romanian Petre Miron, 55, stored his hand in a bag filled with ice after it was chopped off at a saw mill. The half-hour journey to hospital turned into a seven-hour wait as severe blizzards held up ambulances. When he finally arrived Mr Miron, who lives in a small village in Neamt county, northern Romania, underwent a six-hour operation involving two teams of surgeons. Dr Theodor Stamate, of Iasi hospital, praised Mr Miron’s calmness in storing the hand on ice after the accident. He said: “The operation was a success, but we still don’t know if our brave patient will be able to use his hand in the future. I’ve never seen anyone behave so coolly. What he did is simply amazing.”

Bowling alley worker killed in resetting machine accident
A 29-year-old overnight maintenance worker was crushed to death by a bowling pin resetting machine at a west side bowling alley. Employees who arrived for work at 8 a.m. today at West Acres Bowl, 749 N. Ridge Road, found the man still caught in the machine, police said. It appears the man was on all fours when the machine came on and trapped him, police said. Paramedics pronounced him dead on scene. Read more about this story in Thursday’s Eagle.

UPDATE, Company fined $160,000 after crush injury
A BATTERY firm has been fined a total of $160,000 by the NSW Industrial Relations Commission sitting in court session after a worker suffered crush injuries and burns to his right hand that resulted in the amputation of four fingers. BNG Battery Technology of Padstow pleaded guilty of a breach of Section 15(1) of the Occupational Health & Safety Act 1983. The court heard that the worker of the firm reached into an operating lead alloy casting machine to pick up a drip tray that collected residual lead from the machine. As the worker did so a moving part of the machine caught the employee’s glove, crushing his right hand. Justice Kavanagh commented that the firm had advance warning of the risk and that there were obvious and simple steps to avert the risks. WorkCover Acting General Manager Rod McInnes said the case reflected the failure of an employer to remove an identified risk in the workplace.

UPDATE, OSHA urges fine against Plum Creek plant for violations
By JO DEE BLACK Tribune Staff Writer
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has proposed $169,000 in penalties against the Plum Creek plant in Columbia Falls. The penalties — for accusations that Plum Creek failed to protect employees working on a conveyor system — are the result of an OSHA investigation of a fatal accident at the plant on July 11. David Hoerauf, 50, died of head injuries received during an accident that occurred when he and another man were repairing a conveyor belt. Hoerauf stepped onto another belt that was turned on, but not operating. Ernie Freebury, Flathead County’s deputy coroner, said the conveyor started with Hoerauf still standing on it, causing him to lose his balance and fall into a chute. Other conveyors picked him up, funneling him into another chute and into a large hopper full of wood fiber. Hoerauf was then scooped up by a front-end loader and dropped into a tractor-trailer truck that was being loaded with wood fiber. Freebury said the scenario played out in a matter of seconds, and the victim’s partner had no time to summon help before it was too late. Plum Creek General Manager of Panel Products Dennis Robinson said the death was a tragedy, but that his company believes its plants are safe. “After we review the facts of the citation, we’ll defend ourselves based on our record of operating safe plants,” he said. OSHA’s Billings-area office issued one willful violation for equipment lockout hazards, including failure to de-energize equipment before employees worked on it, not locking equipment out-of-service and not having authorized employees perform machinery lockouts. The proposed fine is $70,000 for the violation. OSHA also found two alleged repeat violations for failure to protect employees from hazardous parts on conveyors, unguarded chains and sprockets. The agency assessed penalties of $37,500 for those violations. Eight alleged serious violations include failure to: provide emergency stops on conveyors and alarms for conveyors that start automatically; provide fall protection for employees working above dangerous equipment; provide identifiable locks used for lockouts along with lockout training; verify that equipment was de-energized before working on it; provide guarded projecting shaft ends, belt pulleys; and using compressed air for cleaning purposes in excess of safe pressure. The proposed penalty for the violations is $31,500. Another $30,000 in penalties are also proposed by OSHA for Plum Creek’s alleged failure to correct a previous citation that required the company to prepare written machinery lockout procedures. Plum Creek has three weeks to request an informal conference with the OSHA area director, or to contest the citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission

UPDATE, Aluminum plant challenges fine in worker’s death; State agency says safety rules not properly enforced
By James Bruggers
A Rubbertown-area aluminum plant where a maintenance supervisor was fatally burned last May has challenged a $4,000 fine from state inspectors who allege a ”serious” violation of occupational safety regulations. The Kentucky Labor Cabinet’s Occupational Safety and Health Program visited the Eckart America LP aluminum plant at 4101 Campground Road two days after a May 18 flash fire and explosion in which James T. ”Tommy” LaMaster, 46, of Louisville suffered severe burns. He died two weeks later. The agency concluded that the company had not ”developed, documented and utilized” proper safety procedures, and issued a citation, according documents obtained under the Kentucky Open Records law. Specifically, the citation alleges that unnamed employees required to trouble-shoot and maintain an aluminum powder conveyance system failed to ensure that power to the system remained turned off. ”When an employee is working on a piece of equipment with (power) involved, it is to be locked out so that no one else can turn it on,” said Eddie Jacobs, spokesman for the Kentucky Labor Cabinet. He declined to elaborate. Eckart officials in Louisville would not comment about its decision to appeal. The company’s Chicago lawyer, Michael Dolan, would only say that the firm is following ”an administrative process.” In a filing with the Kentucky Attorney General’s office, the company asserts that it had appropriate safety and health work rules in place, and that they were effectively communicated to employees. State law allows a fine of up to $7,000 per serious citation, said Kembra Taylor, the agency’s general counsel. Various factors, such as the gravity of the violation, history of violations and ”good faith” of the company are weighed before a fine is determined, she said. The case is awaiting the appointment of a hearing officer. Ultimately it will come before the Kentucky Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, a quasijudicial body that hears and rules on contested cases. Lake Dreamland Fire District Chief John Wilkinson said at the time of the accident that aluminum powder escaped from a blown gasket and ignited, and that the resulting fire burned LaMaster. Officials have not said what LaMaster was doing at the time of the explosion. The company makes aluminum powder and pigments. Aluminum powder is highly flammable. ”It’s like gunpowder,” said Charlie Clephas, financial secretary and treasurer of Pipefitters union Local 522, of which LaMaster was a member. He called LaMaster ”a good guy — an aggressive hard worker . . . with a family.” LaMaster was the second worker to die as a result of an explosion at the plant since 1995. That blast occurred under the ownership of the Reynolds Metals Co. The plant was purchased by the Eckart, based in Germany, in 1997. No one was injured in a 1993 explosion at the plant.

 

Farm Mishap Kills Jefferson County Man
Wisconsin Ag Connection Editors – 01/03/2003
A Jefferson County man died on his farm late Wednesday after he apparently became entangled in a grain auger. Authorities say 67-year-old Richard McDonald was pronounced dead at the scene. Deputies found McDonald near the hopper of the auger after his wife reported him missing early Thursday morning. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department stated that McDonald was apparently trying to feed silage into the auger when he got caught in the machine. The accident happened in the Town of Watertown.

 

Man’s arm caught in machine along Indian Land highway
By Staff Reports The Herald
INDIAN LAND — A 40-year-old man was injured Thursday morning when he caught his left arm in a gravel machine as he worked along U.S. 521, authorities say. The Troutman, N.C., man underwent surgery on his arm at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, said Angela Staehr, a Lancaster County paramedic. His name could not be released because his family had not been identified Thursday afternoon. He suffered a large flesh wound and major tissue damage between his elbow and shoulder, Staehr said. About 8:30 a.m. in the 900 block of U.S. 521, someone heard the man cry for help when his arm got caught between a roller and safety guard in the truck-sized machine. His clothing got snagged in the equipment, pulling his arm in. The victim’s coworkers helped emergency medical workers free his arm by taking the machine apart. All but 6 inches of his arm was trapped inside the machine, and medical personnel gave him large doses of morphine at the scene to ease his pain, Staehr said. “He was in a real good deal of pain,” Staehr said. After he was freed, the man was driven to Carolinas Medical Center for surgery.

 

Fingertips severed in accident; In Lancaster County, six people were injured in snowblower accidents.
By SHAWN LEDINGTON Daily Record staff Friday, December 27, 2002
A man pushing a snowblower up a small hill behind Edgar Fahs Smith Middle School in York slipped on ice Thursday. Falling to the ground, his hand landed in the rotating blades of the machine. The tops of each of William Bones’ middle, ring and index fingers on one hand were completely severed, according to Jose Cruz, who said he was working with Bones to clear the snow when Bones slipped and fell. Bones’ condition was not available Thursday. It was not clear which hand was injured. Cruz said he and a woman from inside the school helped gather the three finger pieces – which were all still inside Bones’ glove – from the blades of the snowblower. “I gave them to (the paramedic) in a bag,” he said. “It’s a shame, he’s only in his 50s,” said Cruz, who was clearing off steps behind the school when his co-worker was hurt. An ambulance picked up Bones at the school and took him to York Hospital. Tom Graybill of the York County Office of Emergency Operations, who is acting as the county’s director of emergency services, said that another snowblower accident occurred Wednesday in the county. In Lancaster County, Graybill said, six people injured their hands in snowblowers on Wednesday. According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons’ Web site, hospitals and emergency rooms treated 3,546 injuries related to snow throwers and snowblowers in 1999. Two-thirds of snowblower injuries involve fingers. Among consumer products, snowblowers are a leading cause of finger amputations. People using snowblowers should make sure they’re tuned off before putting hands anywhere near them, Graybill said. “Snowblowers are becoming a hazard,” he said.

 

Man still hospitalized after being hit by spring
From the Journal Sentinel Dec. 23, 2002
West Bend – A 28-year-old West Bend man was upgraded to serious condition Monday and remains in a hospital after being struck by garage door spring. Daniel Pies of West Bend was injured last week while working on a garage door at Dave’s Auto Recycling in the Town of Farmington, according to authorities. Pies and a co-worker were working on a garage door spring about 8:45 a.m. Dec. 17, authorities reported. Pies was on top of a 12-foot extension ladder disassembling the opener. He was working on the bolts that hold the apparatus together when the spring let loose, according to reports from the Washington County Sheriff’s Department. The spring hit Pies in the throat and chest and knocked him off the ladder. He fell to the concrete floor below, injuring his head. The man working with Pies immediately applied pressure to the large wound in Pies’ upper chest while another employee called 911, reports say. Boltonville Fire Department personnel went to the salvage yard in the 2000 block of County A, and Pies was taken to St. Joseph’s Community Hospital. A short time later, he was taken by Flight for Life to Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital in Wauwatosa. The exact nature of Pies’ head injuries have yet to be determined, according to a Froedtert spokeswoman. 

Longtime city worker dies in accident; 51-year-old Wesley Black stood out among city employees
By Sarah Riley News-Chronicle
Wesley Black, a 32-year Green Bay public works employee, was killed Monday morning as he was unloading a truck used to plow snow this weekend. Black, a 51-year old truck driver, got caught in the salt-spreading unit on the back of a dump truck at about 8 a.m. He was removing treated sand so the truck could be used for other things. He did not have a pulse when a rescue squad arrived at the west side garage at 519 S. Oneida St. Public works director Carl Weber described Black as a jovial man who stood out among the city’s employees. He was married to Patricia and had a grown daughter, Chris, and will be remembered as someone who often played Santa Claus at holiday parties because of his great sense of humor. “It’s hit the employees very hard. Wesley Black was a very outgoing, exuberant type of guy,” Weber said. “He was very popular and certainly well-known by all the employees.” Weber said Black previously worked in the city’s sewer department and has driven a truck for several years. Weber said Black was used to working with the truck’s equipment. The accident is under investigation and was reported to the state Department of Commerce. Black was alone when the accident happened, and employees found him within minutes. Workers on the scene, those who use similar equipment and city staff will be interviewed for the investigation. “The city staff will cooperate with whatever investigation they would choose to do,” Weber said. There are safety devices on the salt spreader, Weber said, but they are only effective when the truck is spreading salt or sand. Black’s death is the first on-the-job fatality or accident of its type for the city, Weber said. Weber said the accident has been very difficult for everyone who knew Black, and assistance workers were brought in to counsel employees. Green Bay Mayor Paul Jadin and Weber talked to the family Monday.

 

UPDATE, Everett company sued over death 
A California woman has sued an Everett company alleging that equipment it manufactured was defective and responsible for her husband’s death in October 2001. The suit was filed on behalf of Maria Zenaida-Garcia. Her husband, Gregorio Garcia-Munoz, was asphyxiated after his clothing became caught in a machine made by Recovery Systems Technology Inc., according to the lawsuit filed in Snohomish County Superior Court. The accident happened in Portland, Ore., when Garcia-Munoz was working at a soil recycling company site. A Labor Ready Inc. employee, he had been processing soil through a trommel, a piece of industrial equipment containing a rotating drum and conveyors, the suit said. The upper part of his shirt caught in an unguarded pulley and he was asphyxiated, the suit says.

 

Man dies from injuries at workplace; body pulled into shrink-wrap machine 
By STEPHEN HOLMES The (Clarksville) Leaf-Chronicle
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – A Quebecor World Clarksville employee died from injuries sustained after he was pulled into a shrink-wrap machine at the printing plant late yesterday morning. Donald Wilkerson received severe injuries to his chest, abdomen and right arm after his full body was reportedly trapped in the machine about 10:30 a.m. Vanderbilt University Medical Center spokesman Clinton Colmenares said Wilkerson ”died of a crush injury” at 12:40 p.m. He said the county coroner would be performing an autopsy and those findings may have a bearing on the official cause of death. In a written statement, Quebecor World Clarksville Vice President Bruce Rheinecker said a ”thorough investigation of the accident is in progress. We are deeply saddened by this tragic event.” The company declined to elaborate on the accident. Local plant employees also declined comment. The factory, at 451 International Blvd., employs about 1,000 regular and temporary workers in the commercial printing of magazines. When Emergency Medical Service crews arrive, Wilkerson had been removed from the shrink wrap and was lying on a roller inside the warehouse, EMS Lt. Christopher Brown said. He had no pulse and was classified in trauma arrest while being transported to Gateway Medical Center. He was revived by paramedics and taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center by Lifeflight helicopter. With the death occurring in the workplace, The Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration will begin an investigation, said Steve Hawkins, TOSHA assistant administrator. The investigation, which could last up to eight weeks, will determine if any TOSHA standards were violated. ”We have to interview the witnesses to the accident, the managers and supervisors – basically, anyone who can give us insight to what happened,” Hawkins said. Should it be held responsible, Quebecor could face fines ranging from $7,000 for a severe violation to $70,000 for a willful violation. Hawkins said a willful violation ”is when an employee may have known the right thing to do and didn’t.”

 

UPDATE, Owens Corning cleared in death
NEWARK — Owens Corning will not be cited or fined in relation to the accidental death of a worker at its Case Avenue plant in October, an official with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration said. Deborah Zubaty, OSHA area director, said the agency recently closed its case and found there were no violations Oct. 11 when Charles Scott Laughery, 36, was killed. Owens Corning investigators concluded the incident was accidental, said Owens spokesman Frank Giovannelli. Laughery, an Owens Corning industrial electrician, was repairing packaging equipment when the accident occurred. OSHA and Toledo-based Owens either could not or refused to disclose further information regarding what caused the accident. The Licking County Coroner’s Office indicated Laughery died from multiple internal injuries resulting from blunt force to his chest and abdomen due to compression by a mechanical device. A message seeking comment was left with Laughery’s family.

UPDATE, OSHA reduces fines of plant where worker died
Federal officials have agreed to reduce the fines imposed on a recycling plant where one worker was killed and two were seriously injured after safety violations caused a deadly explosion. In November, Newstech PA was fined nearly $19,000 by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for 11 alleged violations after a nearly two-month investigation into the Aug. 11 explosion. After a Dec. 4 meeting between Newstech and OSHA, the agency agreed to cut its proposed fine by 20 percent, from $18,900 to $15,120, George Tomchik, director of the Allentown OSHA office, said Thursday. Officials at the plant, which specializes in recycling newspapers by bleaching the ink out of the paper, have said the blast happened when a mixer that brings together pulp and a bleaching agent ruptured. The blast killed John Thomas Stefano, 56, of Pohatcong Township, and injured Edward Kavcak, 47, of Forks Township, and Joe Yost, 47, of Kunkletown. Newstech is still responsible for fixing the violations OSHA cited, Tomchik said. Changes include writing instructions for turning off steam energy to a pulp mixer _ a procedure OSHA said might have prevented the mixer from exploding. Tomchik and Newstech spokesman Ken Robinson said most of the violations have been fixed to OSHA’s satisfaction. “They had probably 90 percent of the items corrected,” Tomchik said. Newstech had about 60 employees in Northampton at the time of the explosion, Tomchik said. Because Newstech’s parent company operates several similar plants in the United States and Canada, OSHA officials opted for the 20 percent reduction given to larger businesses, he said. The Dec. 4 agreement is not an admission of wrongdoing, Tomchik said. However, the company recognized the violations and promised to correct them, he said. Northampton is about 70 miles north of Philadelphia.

 

Repairman Killed In Elevator-Shaft Accident; Fatally crushed during work at Bronx hospital
By Melanie Lefkowitz and Stephanie Saul
John Neary, 29, of Saddle Brook, N.J., was killed outright, police said. Neary was an employee of Nouveau Elevator, which had won a Health and Hospitals Corp. bid to modernize the elevators at the South Bronx hospital. He and another employee were working in the basement around 11 a.m. yesterday to replace an electrical panel on one of the hospital’s visitors elevators when the lift, which should have been disabled, came rumbling down, police said. Neary was inside the shaft standing on a ladder and the other man was in the hallway when the second man heard a vibrating sound, police said. He opened the doors of an adjacent elevator and looked in to see his partner crushed between the elevator and the wall, police said. Accident reports from the buildings department show that the worker was the fourth person killed in the city this year in an elevator accident. A student at Truman High School in the Bronx, was seriously injured when a freight elevator door gave way there. Ilyse Fink, a spokeswoman for the buildings department, said the agency is investigating why the elevator was not properly disabled while the worker was inside. Standard procedure requires that the stop switch in the elevator be placed in the off position during maintenance. “He was apparently on the ladder, which leads down to the pit, and did not hear the elevator descend. This is a very quiet elevator. He may not have heard it, or didn’t hear it in time,” Fink said. Fink said the Department of Buildings issued a notice Dec. 3 for failure to tag the elevator for a five-year load test, one of the periodic tests required for elevators in the city. Fink said the load test is not related to the failure of the elevator’s switch to be placed in the full stop position during maintenance. A woman who answered the phone at Nouveau, which is based in Greenpoint, said the company would have no comment on Neary’s death. A spokeswoman for Lincoln, Sylvia Reyes, had few details about the incident, but said the hospital and several other agencies, including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, will investigate. “Our condolences go out to the family, friends and co-workers of the deceased,” Reyes said.

UPDATE, Kidd Creek fined $337,500 following worker’s death
By James Thom Wednesday, November 27, 2002 – 07:00 
Local News – Falconbridge Kidd Mine Site was fined $337,500 Tuesday in connection with the death of a Timmins man underground at the mine Sept. 2, 2000. The mining giant pleaded guilty to a charge of allowing work to be performed on a pressurized pipe under the Mining Act Tuesday in the Ontario Court of Justice. Court heard a Timmins man was part of a four man team working on an air pipeline underground at 10:20 a.m. at the main service ramp near the 5,400 level. Court heard the crew had closed down one set of pressure valves on the line but unbeknownst to them, there was a second set of valves which remained open and the line remained pressurized at 3,300 to 4,500 pounds per square inch. When the unidentified man lit a torch to work on the pipe, it exploded and the man suffered severe head injuries and died five days later in a Sudbury hospital. “It’s still difficult to understand how this happened,” said Kidd Mine site general manager Dan Gignac said after the court matter was concluded. “We pleaded guilty and are taking responsibility for it. “We are committed to improving our safety performance … and have a taken a number of measures and actions to ensure it doesn’t happen again.” The Ontario Ministry of Labour and Kidd performed separate investigations into the accident.

Former Custer man killed
by Journal staff
MONTROSE, Colo. — A former Custer man died in a sawmill accident Tuesday at a lumber mill in Montrose, Colo. James “Jim” Kury, 46, was apparently trying to free a jam in a conveyor system when a co-worker switched on the machine, according to Montrose County Undersheriff Dick Deines. The accident happened about 11 a.m. Tuesday at the Intermountain Resources lumber mill in Montrose. Deines said the machinery had jammed and a chain broke, coming loose from one of the gears. Sawmill workers shut down the line, and several of them left for lunch. Kury and another worker stayed to repair the chain and free the jam. After fixing the chain, the co-worker went back to the control room. “He didn’t see James around and assumed James had also broken for lunch, because he couldn’t see him,” the undersheriff said. However, Kury had apparently gone back in to clear more debris. The worker turned the machine back on. It caught Kury’s left arm and pulled him into a gear system of the conveyor. Deines said Kury’s injuries we severe, and it appeared that he died quickly. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the accident. According to a story in the Montrose Daily Press, OSHA had fined Intermountain Resources $150,000 two years ago for 42 safety violations found in an April 2000 inspection. Company officials insisted that Tuesday’s accident was an extraordinary event that can’t be blamed on the plant’s safety program. They said the 2000 violations were found during plant construction and were taken care of immediately. Kury was a veteran millwright who had worked at sawmills in Custer, Worland, Wyo., Auburn, Wash., Ashland, Mont., Price, Utah and Montrose. His obituary appears on Page C2.

Man Killed In Industrial Accident
By Jay Warren
(LOUISVILLE, November 27th, 2002, 1 p.m.) — A man was killed Tuesday night in an industrial accident at the Bakery Chef on Westport Road. WAVE 3’s Jay Warren has details. The man, whose identity was not immediately released, was a 23-year-old African immigrant, and was a temporary employee at the business. Around 8 p.m., he was reportedly cleaning a long, bathtub like mixer with an auger running through it and apparently thought he had turned it off when he had actually turned off another machine. As he was cleaning the mixer, it activated, and he was caught by the auger. Worthington Fire Department Assistant Chief Harry Cooke says it’s standard operating procedure for workers to turn machines off with a key so that they’re locked off. He says it’s not known exactly what caused the deadly accident. “Somewhere along the way, the system failed, and the machine got turned on, and he was caught by the auger,” Cook says. It took rescue crews several hours to free the man’s body from the equipment. Bakery Chef makes ready-to-eat frozen pancakes and biscuits for fast food restaurants.

PA Worker Killed Cleaning Mill
MONACA, Pa. — A man was killed while cleaning a stone grinding machine at a wallboard plant. Ryan Chlebowski, 26, of New Castle, was dead when emergency officials arrived at PF Environmental about 6:30 p.m. Monday. Wayne Tatalovich Jr., Beaver County’s deputy coroner, said Chlebowski was cleaning a pug mill, which has twin augers that rotate inside a casing to grind stone. Chlebowski’s father, who also works a the plant, discovered the accident, which occurred between 3 and 5 p.m. The pug mill was supposed to be turned off before cleaning, but police were unsure if that was done. “It looks like he either caught a shovel or his hand in the equipment,” Tatalovich said. “He couldn’t get out.” Officials from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration were expected to investigate.

 

Trash Truck Accident Leaves D.C. Worker with Amputated Foot
Washington – A trash truck employee is lucky to be alive this morning after being nearly crushed to death by the truck’s trash compressor.  D.C. Fire and Rescue spokesman Alan Etter says it happened around 8 a.m. in the 1500 block of 38th Street in Southeast. Etter says the 27-year-old man fell into the back of the truck. His right foot was partially amputated before the other workers could free him. The unidentified worker is in critical condition at the Washington Hospital Center. It’s not clear if the man worked for a private trash company or the D.C. Department of Public Works. OSHA is investigating the incident.

Construction worker’s arm caught in machine
BY JACLYN O’MALLEY WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER 
Arriving at a construction site Tuesday morning, rescue workers saw legs dangling from a machine. Rick Schinebarger, 29, had been pulled partway into an auger hopper about 10:14 a.m., said Ted Marcuzzo, paramedic supervisor. The accident happened on the site of the Omaha Convention Center and Arena, near 10th Street and Capitol Avenue. Schinebarger was listed in good condition Tuesday night at University Medical Center. Marcuzzo said a steel rod pierced Schinebarger’s right forearm. He said it appeared that Schinebarger turned off the machine before he was pulled fully into it. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating, said area director Ben Bare. He said construction work has one of the highest risks for injury and illness. Marcuzzo gave this account of the accident: Schinebarger was trying to unclog an auger hopper. In his left hand, he held a control mechanism for the machine. He was using his right hand to unclog the hopper. His arm got tangled, and he shut off the machine. The sel rods in the hopper that are used to break up insulation, pierced his forearm. Rescue workers cut the machine apart around Schinebarger’s arm. He was taken from the scene with the rod sticking out of his forearm. 

UPDATE, Brownsville plant fined after worker’s death
BROWNSVILLE, Texas – Federal regulators have fined Titan Tire Corp. more than $20,000 in connection to an employee’s death in September. The Brownsville tire manufacturing plant had insufficient safety protocol when the man died, according to a U.S. Department of Labor agency inspection filed Thursday. Javier Equina, a mechanic at the manufacturing company’s plant in Brownsville, “was struck by a 24-inch pipe wrench when the press he was working on was unexpectedly energized,” the report states. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s inspection cited four mostly procedural “serious” violations at the local plant and fined Titan Tire $21,000. The plant’s new operations manager, John LeGrand, told The Brownsville Herald that he had not received notification of the violations, adding that it is normal procedure for OSHA to conduct an inspection after the death of an employee. An accident investigation initiated Sept. 23 found four serious violations of failing to have proper training and procedures in place that would cut off energy sources to machinery that posed a significant risk to employees. OSHA area director John Giefer, in Corpus Christi, said standards exist “that require employers to have a plan in place to neutralize or de-energize potential energy sources where an employee could be injured if the work he is doing has placed him in a danger zone.” Three of the four counts were accompanied by the maximum possible fine of $7,000, for a total of $21,000. Giefer said Titan has 15 days from the receipt of the citation to appeal the decision. Titan can either ask for an informal conference or contest the citation by disclosing any additional information that may have been missed in the inspection. Titan, owned by Quincy, Ill.-based Titan International Inc., also owes an additional $6,608 in back-fines related to previous inspection violations found in a routine inspection in February. The unpaid fine was sent to a debt collection agency in July. 

UPDATE, SPI appeals fine in mill worker’s death
November 1, 2002 By AMY LINDBLOM 
Sierra Pacific Industries is appealing a $30,000 fine levied after the death of a worker at the firm’s Chinese Camp mill. The timber-industry giant was fined by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health Administration after Jose Olvera, 25, of Sonora, was crushed to death while trying to clear a jam on a lumber stacking machine he was operating Jan. 22. Cal-OSHA investigated the accident and caseworkers determined SPI had committed two “serious” safety violations that led to Olvera’s death. The first citation given was for failing to properly block or lock out a piece of equipment so it wouldn’t unexpectedly move during a malfunction. For this, SPI was fined $7,650. The second citation was for failing to have a written procedure for locking down a piece of equipment during a malfunction. Cal-OSHA levied a $22,500 fine. More than the matter of money, SPI is challenging the ruling because company officials want all of the facts of the case to be brought before an administrative law judge, said Ed Bond, SPI spokesman at the company’s headquarters in Anderson. Bond declined to comment further. Because of the appeal, the case is still considered open. Since 1998, SPI has been cited six times for accidents at either its Standard or Chinese Camp mills, Cal-OSHA documents show. But because SPI is a huge employer with facilities in many locations, Cal-OSHA does not consider SPI to be an “egregious safety violator,” said Dean Fryer, Cal-OSHA spokesman. Of SPI’s five other accidents at Tuolumne County mills, the company appealed Cal-OSHA rulings in three of the cases and was successful in getting the fines reduced, said Fryer. Cal-OSHA’s accident report indicated Olvera was the sole operator of a lumber stacker machine — the last step in a string of milling operations each piece of wood goes through. “If the stacker goes down, the mill is backed up and stops,” the report said. “It is essential that his station continue running to prevent backlog at other locations.” 

UPDATE, Fingers lost in machine
Food Packaging Ltd of Chesterton, Cambridge have been fined a total of £14,000 with £2,000 costs for breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations in the circumstances of an accident to an employee who sustained a serious hand injury. Last December employee Rona Harris lost two fingers attempting to unblock a corner-rounding machine when a guillotine came down on her hand. Ms Harris was working at the machine without the benefit of a risk assessment. The company had now invested additional resources on equipment and on independent health and safety advice.

Propane tank ignites 
BY GREG TUTTLE AND BECKY SHAY Of The Gazette Staff
A propane-tank fire at a southwest Billings business forced the evacuation of surrounding businesses and an elementary school and shut down Interstate 90 for about an hour before fire crews extinguished the blaze. The fire at V-1 Propane, 6650 S. Frontage Road, was reported at 1:24 p.m. when vapors from a 2,400-gallon propane tank, which was being worked on inside the building, ignited. Flames spread throughout the building, which was heavily damaged. No one was seriously injured, but traffic was delayed and students at nearby Elysian Elementary School, about one-half mile away, were among those evacuated as a precaution. Billings Fire Marshal Frank Odermann said the evacuation included homes and business within 1,500 feet of the burning propane tank. Billings fire investigators continue to investigate the fire and had not determined a cause late Tuesday. The tank that caught fire and vented flaming gas for more than an hour contained about 600 gallons of propane, Odermann said. “The size of that tank itself is a concern,” Odermann said. Other propane tanks were outside the building, but none of those ignited. Fire crews were able to begin putting out the fire at about 3 p.m. when they determined that the burning propane tank no longer posed a danger. “The real danger early on is not knowing how many other tanks are contained in that building,” Odermann said. The danger of propane tank fires is the possibility of an explosion, called a “blevy,” Odermann said. Blevy stands for “boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion,” said Battalion Chief Carl Zabrocki. A blevy occurs when the gas inside the tank ignites and ruptures the tank, causing a huge fireball and sending metal flying for great distances. “We’d rather see that tank venting than blevy,” Odermann said. “Propane expands at a tremendous rate, so if that propane gas would get out of the container, you’d have a huge area covered by it,” Zabrocki said. “It would have been a giant fireball. At 1,500 feet, we were pushing the realm of not going far enough away.” Odermann said reports indicate that a crew was working on the propane tank, which was on a semi truck parked inside the building. The workers told fire officials they were replacing a valve when they noticed vapors coming from the tank. The vapors ignited from an unknown cause, Odermann said. Zabrocki said one man was “tossed around a little” and his beard was singed. The man was taken for medical evaluation but later returned to the scene of the fire, he said. Roads nearby were blocked off and officials closed Interstate 90 between the King Avenue West and Zoo Drive exits. The highway reopened at about 3 p.m. Montana Rail Link temporarily shut down the stretch of its train tracks that run parallel to Interstate 90. Zabrocki said the Fire Department shut down traffic rather than “taking a gamble” on safety. “If we would have had the failure (of the tank), we would have had shock waves and fireballs way into the interstate,” Zabrocki said. Also, the snow made driving conditions slick and because people tend to look at fire scenes, the chance for wrecks was increased. Spectacular flames were visible as the burning gas shot up through the building. “They must have been 100 foot high,” said Bob Sherman, who was working across the highway on Hesper Road. Spectators stopped along Hesper Road, where several businesses were evacuated for a short time. Zabrocki said firefighters used unmanned hose holders and positioned their equipment as far away as possible. A hose holder is a big nozzle on a stand, he said. “We can basically set up, aim and then get back and it works by itself,” Zabrocki said. Crews were only able to use one holder because of limited water supply, Zabrocki said. Crews did some “creative tender shuttling” to be able to continue to spray water on the tank. “It worked very well, but it took some firefighters doing their job very quickly and very efficiently to make it work,” he said. Zabrocki made a conservative estimate that crews used 30,000 gallons of water on the fire. Firefighters intentionally let the propane in the tank burn off while keeping the tank cool, which allowed the gas to vent with less chance of the tank exploding. The strategy boiled down to “cool the tank and keep your eyes open,” he said. “We want it (the gas) to escape, but we don’t want it to escape really quickly,” Zabrocki said. Deputy Fire Marshal Tim Stavnes said the tank vented until about 2:45, and engine companies were then able to put out the building fire. A small fire in the “vessel plumbing” was allowed to burn, with a hose cooling it, until it ran out of propane and the fire went out about 6:20 p.m., he said. The initial rough estimate of loss was $225,000 according toV-1 Propane’s owner and area manager, Stavnes said. The Montana Highway Patrol, Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Department, Billings Police Department, utility companies, crews from Billings Logan International Airport and one of the water tenders from the airport all helped with controlling the scene. The Fire Department temporarily opened its emergency command center at Station No. 1, near downtown, so Zabrocki and other leaders could easily order needed resources, he said. Zabrocki said the fire was strategically difficult to fight, but crews “worked extremely well under pressure.” “It was a textbook exercise,” Zabrocki said. “It’s just that you pray that all of your training doesn’t have to get used and today it all got used.”