Articles Tagged with ''workplace accidents''

In the unlikely event that anyone out there was thinking that workplace fatalities were fading into the past, check out the newest Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries that was released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics today. According to BLS, 5,190 fatal work injuries died on the job in 2016, a 7-percent increase from the 4,836 fatal injuries reported in 2015 and the third year in a row the number has increased.

An arc flash at the Panda Power station in south Sherman, Texas, sent one employee to the hospital. Sherman Fire says It happened around 7:30 a.m. at 510 Progress Drive in Sherman. The Panda Sherman Power Project is a clean natural gas-fueled, 758-megawatt combined-cycle generating facility. The plant can supply the power needs of up to 750,000 homes.

Zach Spicer, a substation supervisor for DES, Dickson County, Tenn., suffered second-degree burns to his face and neck and third-degree burns Aug. 25 afternoon on his hands and forearm at the DES Old White Bluff Substation just as he prepared to teach a class. He was accessing a breaker cabinet, high voltage side when contact or an arc formed, causing an electrical fault that released heat and energy.

An arc flash occurs during a fault, or short circuit condition, which passes through this arc gap. The arc flash can be initiated through accidental contact, equipment which is underrated for the available short circuit current, contamination or tracking over insulated surfaces, deterioration or corrosion of equipment and, or parts, as well as other causes.

It appears a welding accident lead to a deadly fire in Clovis, New Mexico. Three people were killed one was seriously injured. “This is one of the largest losses of life we’ve seen,” said Clovis Police Captain Roman Romero. The three deceased are John Sandoval, 54; Robert Elebario, 51; and Billie Grabowsky, 52. Rogelio Hernandez was the only one who survived the fire. He was treated at Plains Regional Medical Center in Clovis. “I asked him what happened and what does he remember, and he said they were just in the shop welding a piece of pipe to a car and they noticed the gas can nearby had caught a spark,” explained Rogelio’s niece, Casandra Hernandez.

One person was transported to the hospital after an accident at a warehouse caused an explosion in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, fire officials say.

This article by Elizabeth Floyd Mair of the Altamont Enterprise is a rare summary of a court case involving an employer challenge of an OSHA citation related to the gruesome death of a day laborer who was dragged into a wood-chipper on May 4, 2016. The employer, Tony Watson, owner of Countryside Tree Care, is contesting citations totaling $141,811 related to the death of Justus Booze, a 23-year old day laborer halfway through his first day on the job.