"We regret to confirm that an employee .... was fatally injured"

There are a number of ways our industry protects workers from falls on a daily basis. The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has posted incidents where falls injured or killed workers. Here is a recent story that emphasizes the continued need for fall protection education.

A man has been killed while working at an alumina facility in Australia one night during the week September 28, 2014.

  

Local police senior sergeant said they were investigating the death of a man who fell down an elevator shaft.

At this stage no suspicious circumstances are involved. The company issued a statement this morning to confirm a full investigation was underway.

"We regret to confirm that an employee working at our refinery was fatally injured in an incident in the powerhouse" it said. 

"We extend our deepest condolences and support to the deceased's family, friend and colleagues at this difficult time." 

The inquiry is being continued by WorkSafe, the Department of Mines and Petroleum and police. 

The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog offers our sincere condolences to the deceased worker’s family, friends, and coworkers. The APSB hopes that the deceased coworkers are offered counseling to deal with their loss.

Some news media reports had listed the deceased as a maintenance worker who was with several other workers near a conveyor belt and at some point in time his coworkers noticed that he was missing. After a brief search the worker was found at the bottom of the elevator shaft which was closeby to the conveyor belt. One news article stated that the deceased worker fell “hundreds of feet”.

The APSB has been in numerous facilities and acknowledges how many fall hazards are located in plants. Some fall hazards are hidden. On a recent site visit to aluminium plant the APSB looked through the lifting holes in some steel plates and was shocked that they covered a 35 meter fall hazard. I assumed that they the steel plates covered a pit. I was unaware that the pit depth was several stories deep. 

There is a lot of safety information regarding fall hazard protection available. The Occupational Safety & Health Administration has educational manuals, information, etc which can be found here.

Worksafe BC has a safety video, albeit it is older, it is still very educational.

The Health & Safety Executive have some useful information which can be located here.

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