Thursday, May 21, 2009

Weekly Toll: Death in the American Workplace

Man found dead in collapsed tower

May 16, Honolulu, Hawaii - The worker trapped when a 120-foot-tall cooling tower collapsed this morning at Campbell Industrial Park has been found dead. Capt. Robert Main, spokesman for the Honolulu Fire Department, said the body was found about 3:15 p.m. Search and rescue efforts had been under way since the tower collapsed shortly after 8 a.m. Two men were in the tower at the time. The men are employed by A.G. Transport of California, specialists in industrial demolition, and working locally with Sans Construction of Hawaii.


Nags Head officer's death 'a devastating loss'

May 16, Nags, North Carolina - A Nags Head, N.C., police sergeant died early Friday after losing control of his car in heavy rain on the way to a break-in. Sgt. Dulan Earl Murray Jr., 48, was the first officer in the town's history to be killed in the line of duty. Murray was responding to a reported breaking and entering when he lost control of his car and hit a power pole about 3:53 a.m. in the 3000 block of S. Croatan Hwy. near Nags Head Elementary School, said Sgt. Jeff Wilson of the State Highway Patrol. Another motorist saw the crash, and a second Nags Head officer was on the scene quickly, Wilson said. Murray died at the scene.


Factory worker killed at Nampa Sugar factory


May 15, Nampa, Idaho — Officials say a worker at an Amalgamated Sugar factory in Nampa in southwest Idaho has been killed after getting caught in a machine. Deputy Nampa Fire Chief Doug Strosnider says the worker died Friday morning. The person's name has not been released. "We extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of a long-time Amalgamated Sugar employee who was killed in a tragic accident," said Vic Jaro, Amalgamated chief executive officer. Authorities say the body of the 45-year-old man was discovered at about 11 a.m. in "very tight" quarters of the sugar plant and took about an hour and a half to get to the body.


Workers killed by chemical leak identified

May 14, Louisville, Kentucky - We now know the names of the men who died after being exposed to anhydrous ammonia vapors at a plant that stores frozen goods south of downtown Louisville. The victims - 34-year-old Damon Shanks and 59-year-old Robert Corbin - died after ammonia began leaking inside American Cold Storage at 607 Industry Road around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. Both were from Louisville and both worked as maintenance men at the company. Rescue workers found the two men unconscious in a compressor room. Both were taken to University Hospital, where they died a short time later.


Police release name of man killed in Missouri industrial accident

May 14, Springfield, Missouri — Police say a man killed in an industrial accident in Springfield has been identified as 59-year-old Charles Knapp of Walnut Grove. A news release from police Thursday said Knapp was at the Loren Cook Co. working on a piece of metal that came loose and struck him in the head. Knapp was pronounced dead at the scene Wednesday afternoon. Loren Cook Co. manufactures industrial and commercial fans and blowers. It is not clear how long Knapp had worked there. Company officials declined comment when reached by The Associated Press on Thursday.


Employee dies in explosion at Linden gas company

May 13, Linden, New Jersey — A 60-year-old Bridgewater man was killed Wednesday morning when a 60-pound oxygen tank he was filling exploded at an industrial gas company. Around 11 a.m. Wednesday, May 13, Thomas Coon, a 30-plus-year employee at J.W. Goodliffe and Sons Inc., 1900 E. Elizabeth Ave., was filling a 5-foot-tall oxygen tank in a back corner of the building when it exploded, according to police Capt. Raymond Tyra. The cause of the explosion is under investigation by Linden police and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Tyra said he had no knowledge of the company's procedures for filling tanks.


Georgia Worker Killed by Car Dealership Forklift

May 13, Atlanta, Georgia - reported that a car dealership in a Clayton County experienced a tragic accident. One of the workers at a car dealership, Pars Car Sales on Southlake Parkway, was teaching another employee how to drive the forklift last week on Thursday. As one employee was showing the other employee how to drive, one of the workers was run over. AJC said that the police investigated the death and said it appeared accidental.


Worker killed in industrial accident at Loren Cook Co.

May 13, Springfield, Missouri - A worker at Loren Cook Co. has died in an on-site accident, the Springfield Police Department reports. At about 1 p.m. today, the 59-year-old unidentified man was struck in the head by a piece of metal that came loose at his workstation, according to a news release. He was pronounced dead at the scene. No additional details have been released. Police are attempting to notify the man's family.


Oilfield death

May 12, Odessa, Texas - Authorities are still looking into the oilfield accident that killed a 50-year-old tool pusher for Capstar Drilling early Saturday, officials with Capstar and the Ector County Sheriff's Office said. Eddie Lozano Rivera was involved in an accident at about 12:29 a.m. Saturday near a drilling rig 18 at the Edwards No. 3 lease south of Odessa, Sheriff Sgt. Gary Duesler said. He said he could not release too many details on the nature of the accident because he hasn't heard back from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.


Man killed in farming accident

May 13, Smithfield, Virginia – A farm worker died after falling into a silo filled with wheat on a farm outside Smithfield Tuesday. Emergency crews were called out to the farm on Griffin Lane, off U.S. Route 10, around 10:45 a.m. after receiving a report that the man had fallen into the silo, said Andy Aigner, coordinator of fire/EMS services in Isle of Wight County. Crews spent several hours removing about four tractor-trailer loads of wheat from the silo before they were able to recover the victim's body, said Aigner.


Explosion kills workers of Elizabethtown company

May 13, Little Rock, Arkansas - An empty gasoline tank undergoing repairs exploded yesterday at a fuel storage facility in rural north-central Arkansas, killing three workers employed by an Elizabethtown, Ky., company, authorities said. The tank south of Searcy had been cleaned previously and workers were preparing to install a new gauge when the blast occurred just before 2:30 p.m., said Rick Rainey, spokesman for the facility's owner, Houston-based energy company TEPPCO Partners LP.


Pikesville apartment worker, 37, dies nearly month after being shot

May 11, Baltimore, Maryland - A 37-year-old man has died of a gunshot wound nearly a month after being shot in a dispute at the Owings Chase Apartment Complex, in Pikesville, according to Baltimore County police. Edward Jackson III, of the unit block of Warren Park Drive, in Pikesville, died at Sinai Hospital on Saturday after being shot on April 20, 2009. Murder charges are pending against Kirk Anthony Bell, 23, who is accused of shooting Jackson, who worked at the complex. Bell is being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center, in Towson, without bail, police report.


Gresham man dies in construction zone crash on I-84

May 11, Gresham, Oregon - A Gresham-area man died Monday afternoon, May 11, when the pickup he was driving struck a stopped Oregon Department of Transportation highway maintenance truck in a work zone on Interstate 84 west of Cascade Locks. Dorin Tapu, 57, of Gresham, was treated by Cascade Locks Fire Department personnel before he died at the scene, near milepost 35, around 3:15 p.m., according to Oregon State Police Senior Trooper Jeremy Richardson. He was reportedly not wearing a seat belt. Driving a 1997 Chevrolet Astro van, Tapu was following a co-worker’s vehicle eastbound in the left lane through a work zone. The co-worker was behind an ODOT maintenance truck with a crash absorber and illuminated arrow sign. As directed by signs and arrows on the ODOT truck, the co-worker merged to the right lane, but Tapu failed to merge and crashed into the back of the ODOT crash-absorber box. After impact, the pickup swerved to the right and hit a guardrail.


Worker dies while at River Run home

May 12, Davidson, North Carolina - A 61-year-old Charlotte man collapsed and died Tuesday afternoon while working on the air-conditioning system at a home in the River Run neighborhood. The owner of the home, on River Crossing Drive, said the man had been working for some time and he had not heard from him. Then the worker’s company called to say they could not reach him on his mobile telephone. The homeowner went to look, and found the man unconscious behind the home around 4:30 p.m.


1 killed in Blount Island industrial accident

May 13, Jacksonville, Florida - Authorities are investigating an industrial accident Tuesday that killed a man at the Blount Island shipping terminal. Alan W. Karr, 63, was killed in the accident, said Nancy Rubin, spokeswoman for the Jacksonville Port Authority. A traffic homicide team was called to the 10100 block of Blount Island Boulevard about 7:30 a.m., according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. The accident occurred on a leased property and was not connected to a ship loading or unloading, Rubin said.


Worker Killed in Michigan Utility Plant Accident

May 11, River Rouge, Michigan - A worker has been killed at a DTE Energy facility in Michigan that produces carbonized coal for blast furnaces during the steel-making process. DTE Energy spokesman Len Singer says the employee was performing routine maintenance on equipment at the DTE Energy Services coke plant on Zug Island in River Rouge when he was accidentally killed about 10:30 a.m. Friday. Singer had no information on the type of accident. He says the utility, state officials and River Rouge police are investigating the death.


Worker killed at crossing

May 13, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - The 53-year-old (John Pichalski, from Hillsborough, NJ) CSX railroad employee was repairing damage from an earlier accident when he was hit by a truck. 53-year-old CSX worker was killed Monday as he worked to repair damage to warning lights from an accident earlier in the day at the same location. The man was killed at 3:58 p.m. at Big Oak and Township Line roads in Middletown, when a tractor-trailer carrying Keebler cookie products hit him while making a very sharp right turn, said Middletown Officer Mark McLeod. The victim's name wasn't released, pending notification of his family.


Man Crushed To Death In Elevator Shaft

May 12, West Palm Beach, Florida - A man was crushed to death in an elevator shaft Monday at a West Palm Beach retirement community, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said. PBSO spokesman Eric Davis said Jason Moyer, 39, an employee with Xpert Elevator Company, was performing maintenance on one of the elevators at Century Village when the mishap occurred shortly after 10:30 a.m. While Moyer was in the elevator shaft, the elevator came down and killed him, Davis said.


CSX employee dies after being hit by train

May 12, Selkirk, New York -- A fatal accident at the CSX rail yard in Selkirk remains under investigation. Bethlehem police said a man was killed after he was hit by a train around 7 p.m. Sunday. He has been identified as Jerod Boehlke, 33, of Selkirk. He was a CSX employee working on a train when he was hit. He was taken to Albany Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. The exact cause of the accident is still under investigation.

2 comments:

deselby said...

The CSX worker killed in the Philadelphia, PA accident was John Pichalski. He was from Hillsborough, NJ

Tammy said...

Thanks Girl.

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