"dies after having 90% of his body burned in an accident..."

The demolition of unused buildings, structures, etc. is commonplace in our industry. The hazards associated with this demolition are numerous. Here is a recent incident emphasize the importance of safety when a building or structure is being taken down.  

The man who suffered burns in a work accident at an aluminium company in South America died late one night during the week of February 10, 2020

According to the local hospital, the worker was rescued by the Mobile Emergency Service and was hospitalized in serious condition after the accident one afternoon. He underwent surgery and died of burns.

The aluminium company reported that the worker had an accident while working on cutting a roof structure in a disabled area. A fire hit the mobile platform where the employee worked.

He was hired by an engineering company. The aluminium company provided the following press release:

"With much regret, (aluminium company) announces that (name of worker), employee of (engineering company name), died yesterday, at 10 pm, at (local hospital). He leaves his wife and three children, who are receiving all the support (aluminium company) and (engineering company).

Yesterday afternoon, February 10, (the worker) suffered severe burns after an accident while cutting the roof structure of a disabled area of the aluminium Company.

Aluminium company reiterates its commitment to the safety of its direct and indirect employees and, together with (engineering company), is committed to raising the cause of the incident to take the necessary measures ".

We offer our sincere condolences to the deceased worker’s family, friends, and co-workers.

The news media as well as the aluminium company’s press release only stated “A fire hit the mobile platform where the employee worked.” We are not sure what cause the fire. Or if the burns were a result of an electrical arc. We will ask the aluminum company for further information. As we have done countless times before, we want to know what happened so we can post and hopefully prevent a recurrence. 

In the meantime, the dismantling of buildings and structures in our industry is a hazardous job. The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has posted numerous incidents where workers have been injured and killed while dismantling a structure. This incident can be used as “what if” or “what can” happen when workers are using moveable lifts. Asking those questions, even if they sound crazy can actually prevent an incident occurring. As we have found over the years, it is what sounds crazy actually happened and an injury or death resulted.

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