LOTO Accidents #6
This page was last updated on 05/06/2010
LOCK IT OUT!!! Santa Maria Man Killed in Industrial Accident (a man is dead after a tragic industrial accident – incident happened at an oil company – co-workers of the victim say he was a single father of an 8-year-old child and had worked for the company for several years – officers from the County Sheriff’s Department were called to the business just before noon today after reports came in that a man had been struck in the head and decapitated – investigations determined the victim was attempting to change a belt on one of the oil pumping units when the accident occurred – an oil worker was working on one of the oil rigs and somehow got caught up in the machinery there in what appeared to be an industrial accident and he died at the scene)
Workers Injured In Cement Mixer Accident (three workers were injured in an industrial accident at a cement company – men were working when they reportedly got caught in equipment used in making cement – worker didn’t actually fall into the mixer, he was caught in the conveyer belt)
Female worker, 31, killed in accident at factory (a 31-year-old woman has been killed in an industrial accident at a cabinet-making factory – the woman was operating an industrial router when the bit disintegrated and a piece hit her in the chest)
Worker’s Arm Cut Off In Concrete Plant Accident (the victim was working when his arm got caught in a machine – the limb was severed from his body – paramedics stabilized the man and recovered his lost arm – fire rescue officials said they rushed him to General Medical Center’s trauma center)
WORKER HURT ARM (the worker suffered bruising and a laceration on his arm that required stitches – he was one of two workers hurt at the plant – the other worker suffered a hand injury)
Dimex worker injured on job (a 36-year-old man was injured in an early morning accident – the man became entangled in a piece of equipment – the man’s arm was caught when the rescue squad arrived)
Davidson County briefs: Elevator accident kills one, hurts one (an accident in an elevator shaft of an office building killed one maintenance worker and injured another – worker, 53, was killed when the elevator he was working under fell on him – emergency crews found the two workers trapped under the elevator, which was resting three or four feet above the floor of the shaft – the elevator car was secured by a chain at the third floor while the two men worked below – he was entering the shaft on a ladder when the chain broke – police believe the elevator hit him in the head as it fell)
LOCK IT OUT!!!!! Yakima company fined $10,800 for safety violation in worker death (a fruit company has been fined $10,800 for safety violations in the death of a mechanic who was trying to repair some machinery – company is appealing three $3,600 fines assessed by the Department of Labor and Industries, which said in documents that the company lacked adequate “lock out tag out” procedures on July 20, when Bradley Allen Mayer, 36, was electrocuted while trying to fix the brake on a bin stacking machine – “worker began working on the de-stacker while others on the line were on a break and got a fatal dose of electricity when a co-worker returned from the break and unwittingly “started it up, thinking he was clear)
LOCK IT OUT!!!!! Man dies in accident at midstate plant (worker, 58, one of the plant’s original employees, died after getting caught in machinery – the plant was shut down for routine maintenance at the time of the accident, and the worker was caught in machinery while working on it)
UPDATE Clayson Steel (1988) Inc. fined $115,000 for health and safety violation (a worker reached into a “brake press” (a machine used to cut metal into various forms) to retrieve a piece of metal when the machine started – the worker received crushing injuries to four fingers resulting in those fingers having to be amputated – the worker had been hired as a general labourer from an employment agency six days earlier – the day after being hired the worker was put to work on the brake press)
Worker killed at McKees Rocks plant (worker was attempting to dislodge a piece of steel caught in equipment when it fell 20 feet onto him)
Worker hurt at timber mill (the man was working in the green mill when his left leg became trapped in a machine)
LOCK IT OUT!!!! UPDATE Nova Steel Processing fined $75,000 for health and safety violation (a worker was helping to remove used “cutting heads” (blades) and “spacers” (pieces of steel enabling the cutting heads to be spaced apart at different intervals) on a machine located on a “slitter line” (a production line that cuts rolls of steel to dimensions required by customers) when the worker’s foot got caught in a pinch point between a stationary component and a moving component that contained a blade. The force of movement resulted in amputation of the worker’s right foot. The component had been activated by a second worker to enable the cutting heads to be removed)
Worker killed during maintenance check in El Paso (an airplane mechanic was killed after he was sucked into a jet’s engine while passengers were boarding from the tarmac – the worker was sucked into the right engine of the 737-500 – there had been an earlier problem with the Number 2 engine, so the engine’s metal covering was open at the time of the accident)
Worker crushed to death in overnight industrial accident (witnesses heard a large boom and when they went to the back of the business, one of the workers, 26, was stuck in a hydraulic winch – still interviewing witnesses to find out how he got trapped in the machine)
VOSHA investigates Putney Paper accident (employee got her hand caught in between two rolls of a machine – the accident didn’t sever the hand, but at a hospital in Boston, it was amputated – no other details)
Hamilton Factory Worker Seriously Injured (the employee suffered serious injuries to his upper body and underwent surgery – accident involved a paper machine – no other injuries – the surgery went well but that the man can expect a long recovery)
PPL worker injured at plant (worker was clearing coal from a feeder at 1 p.m. when he was pushed backward – don’t know what the cause of the problem with the coal feeder was – was injured when working with the feeder, which takes coal from outside the plant and sends it into a mill – coal was wet from the weekend rains and workers were trying to break up clumps to get it to move smoothly through the feeder)
Man loses arm – twice (a man who faces the loss of his left arm following a factory accident is to receive almost £1.5million in compensation – 20 years after he lost his other arm in an incident at the same workplace – the worker, 62, had his right arm amputated in 1985 after an accident while he was employed as a foundry worker – he now faces the loss of his other arm after being involved in an accident in 2001 working for the same employer)
Worker’s hand amputated after accident at jute mill (a worker’s hand had to be amputated after it became entangled in machinery at a jute mill)
Georgetown worker crushed in machine that grabs and hold logs (a worker at a Lumber Mill has died after he was pinned in a machine that grabs and hold logs – the 52-year-old was working on a debarking machine when a pneumatic cylinder crushed him – had worked at the mill about two years – he died of head injuries within seconds)
Millworker loses part of leg (worker states his foot slipped and caught in a box chain drive, tearing off his right leg just below the kneecap – job involves moving cores of peeled wood along a conveyor belt to either a chipper or a hauling truck – he said he shut off the conveyor belt and hopped on one leg up a staircase to the lathe station – there, workers who operate the blade that strips the wood called paramedics and stemmed the blood pouring from his wound – accident followed a complaint in June 2004 and citations for eight safety violations in September 2004 – complaint alleged that dangerous parts of equipment where workers were at risk of catching their limbs were not guarded at the chipper work station and equipment was being operated improperly)
Docs save 6 severed fingers (surgeons have saved factory worker hands after she severed six fingers in a work accident – accident happened two weeks ago at a food processing factory)
Worker, churned inside powerloom machine, saved (woman working with a powerloom who had caught inside a machine accidentally, has been miraculously saved by a timely surgery – twenty five-year-old worker had entangled with the powerloom belt, while she was working on January 4 – before anything could be done, she was dragged into the machine, crushed and swirled twice before being thrown into the pit of the loom)
ZERO ENERGY means ALL ENERGY SOURCES!!! IP Worker Killed By Debarking Machine (an employee was killed when the debarking machine he was working on pinned and crushed him – worker, 52, a maintenance worker at the Lumber Mill who had been with the company for two years, died from head injuries – while electricity to the machine was shut off, the pneumatic cylinder Merritt was working on lowered and trapped him)
UPDATE Dorel Industries Inc. fined $90,000 for health and safety violation (a worker was removing debris from the cutting line of a saw machine that cut and stacked particle board when the worker’s hand came in contact with moving cutting blades – the worker’s lower left arm and hand were amputated – an investigation found there was no guarding device that prevented the worker from having access to the exposed moving blades)
UPDATE Flooring firm fined for worker accident (a flooring firm has been fined £40,000 for an accident which led to a man being off work for 13 months after his arm was trapped between rollers – worker was injured on December 10 when his fingers and then his arm were dragged into the lip between two rollers on the laminating machine he was operating while he was in the process of feeding a sheet into the rollers)
Worker dies in industrial accident (worker, 44, was working at Joplin Building Material Co. when a pallet loaded with concrete blocks got jammed on a conveyer that stacks the blocks – when he and a co-worker tried to lift the pallet to free the conveyer, it slipped and fell, striking him in the head and arm)
MAN FALLS IN SHREDDER (a worker lost his right arm and left hand when he slipped and fell into an industrial shredder – the father-of-two was said to be stable following emergency surgery – no other details)
LOCK IT OUT!!! UPDATE Companies fined over worker death(two companies have been fined $315,000 each after a worker was crushed to death by machinery at a alumina refinery 18 months ago – a 47-year-old father of eight, died of blunt chest trauma after he fell into machinery during maintenance)
LOCK IT OUT!!! Worker dies in industrial accident at Jennie-O plant Thursday in … (worker, 27, was crushed in machinery – was cleaning out a machine at the turkey processing plant when something became stuck in it – he got caught while trying to pull it out)
HSE and police investigate shredder accident in Hampshire (worker, 59, was lost his entire right arm and left hand in an incident involving an industrial shredder)
Worker killed at Joplin plant (a pallet of concrete blocks was on a conveyor that became jammed – he and a co-worker tried to elevate the pallet to free the conveyor, and the pallet slipped and fell on the worker’s head)
UPDATE Excell Stamping Inc. fined $60,000 for health and safety violation (a worker was attempting to adjust a part that had been loaded into a punch press machine when the press cycled downwards – the worker’s right hand was crushed in a pinch point resulting in the amputation of four fingers)
Accident kills man at LDS facility (a 32-year-old man was killed while working in the printing area – was working near the baler machine in an area of the plant where paper products are bundled for recycling – he somehow got into the machine that was moving the material around – when co-workers saw what happened, they immediately shut off the machine and pulled the man out of the hopper – he had some injuries to his head, chest and upper back)
LOCK IT OUT!!! UPDATE Company fined after death (worker, 34, had reached inside a press to free a blockage when he inadvertently started it up again, leading to his almost instant death – his head and upper body were horrifically crushed beneath a press that applied 630 pounds of pressure per square inch)
UPDATE Tree service fined $6,500 by OSHA for fatal accident (the company that employed a worker who was dragged to his death into a commercial wood chipper last May has been fined $6,500)
UPDATE Injury costs company $35,000 (company was fined $35,000 for an industrial accident in which a worker suffered a severe injury to his left hand – was injured when he fell into moving equipment – suffered lacerations to his tendon, a nerve and an artery, all in his left wrist – the injury resulted in 12% loss of function to his fingers and wrist – he mistakenly engaged the wrong control button of a rotating bore which caused it to increase speed – he was standing on the bore and he became unstable and responded by pushing himself away and leaping, which caused him to fall and injure his hand)
UPDATE Integrated Packaging Films Inc. fined $50,000 for health and safety violation (a worker was standing near a machine used in the production of plastic when the worker’s arm became caught in rollers and was drawn into the machine and was injured – a second worker stopped the machine by hitting an emergency stop button – a Ministry of Labour investigation found the machine had no guarding device to prevent access to the rollers’ pinch point)
UPDATE Murray Bros. Lumber Company Limited fined $150,000 for health and safety violation (a worker was found deceased in a restricted area underneath an in-feed conveyor belt at a “hog mill” (a building that receives waste material and reduces it in size through a series of conveyor belts, chutes and machines). The worker, a long-time employee, had been working alone in the hog mill and was found by a co-worker entangled in the conveyor’s take-up rolls – investigation found the main feed belt switch on the conveyor’s control panel was turned to the fast position although it’s unknown if this switch was moved after the incident. The fast belt speed is estimated to be about 110 feet per minute. There were no witnesses to the incident, but it is believed the worker removed safety chains inside the conveyor to enter the restricted area in order to clean up or to try to remove something that may have become caught in the conveyor. It was the worker’s job to ensure the hog mill’s system ran smoothly. The worker’s duties included clearing jams and cleaning up sawdust)
UPDATE Union Felt Products Inc. fined $70,000 for health and safety violation (a worker was underneath a “garnet machine” (a machine that takes fibrous material and combines it into layers of padding) when the worker’s right hand got caught between two rotating rollers. At the time of the incident the worker was investigating a problem with the processing of material. To access the garnet machine the worker had opened a door to a protective, surrounding fence. As a result of the incident, the worker suffered a loss of the right hand at the wrist – investigation determined that prior to the injured worker going under the garnet machine, a supervisor had instructed workers to shut off the garnet machine so maintenance staff could be called. However, inertia caused the rollers to continue rotating for a period of time. The ministry also found a written lockout procedure for the garnet machine did not address the moving machinery caused by inertia. The injured worker had been trained in the company’s lockout procedure. In addition, electronic interlocks on the fence’s access doors were designed to shut down the garnet machine when a door was opened, but, after the power was interrupted, the rollers continued to rotate for some time.)
Worker’s hand crushed in Nhill (the 47-year-old man’s hand was caught in a cutting machine at a duck processing facility – was trapped for more than an hour and his hand has been severely injured)
MAN LOSES THREE LIMBS IN SHREDDER ACCIDENT (a refuse worker is in a critical condition at a Hospital after he lost both legs and an arm in an industrial tree shredder – the 48-year-old man was caught in the shredder at the refuse transfer station for about an hour and a half before being freed by rescue workers – it is unclear how the accident happened)
Farm accident in Hugo claims life (worker, 27, was killed when he was caught in a corn picker while working in a field)
UPDATE Mutilated worker’s family hits out (a man dismembered in a tree shredder last week was ordered to work on the machine that day after refusing because it was faulty, staff have told his family – the 48-year old was in a serious but stable condition after losing both his legs above his knees and his left arm below the elbow in the accident – the woman, who declined to be named, said it was sometimes necessary to get into the shredder to unblock it. Initially, she did so while the machine was operating but was told later to enter it only when it was switched off)
UPDATE Burlington Technologies Inc. fined $125,000 for Health and Safety violation (a worker entered an access gate on a “die-casting machine” (a machine that produces metal forms for automotive parts) to see if the machine’s “launder” (a device through which molten material passes) had become clogged when the worker was struck by a “ladle” (a scooping device) containing molten metal. The worker was able to duck to avoid being pinned between the ladle and launder, but the worker’s shirt caught on fire. The worker received second and third degree burns to the back – investigation found an “interlock safety switch” (an electronic device) on the access gate was broken. If functioning, the switch would have automatically shut down the machine when the gate was opened in order to prevent the worker from coming in contact with moving parts on the die-casting machine)