"10 firefighters and 2 paramedics involved in the rescue operation"

The variety of open pits in our plants vary throughout our industry. They pose a known hazard. The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has posted incidents involving workers falling into pits. Here is a recent incident emphasizing the hazard of open pits in our industry:

A 27-year-old man was injured in the USA after he fell 25 feet into a concrete pit. It happened one night during the week of June 9^th inside the building of the aluminum company. Firefighters said the worker may have slipped from a piece of equipment on the edge of the pit.

Rescuers used a rope system and a crane that was inside the building to get him in a basket and lift him out of the pit.

So far there’s no word on how badly the worker was hurt. His name is also not being released.

Ten firefighters and two paramedics were involved in the rescue operation.

We pray that the individual worker recovers fully from his injuries.

As usual the news media article provides little information. Regardless, what it does tell us can make your individual plant and company safer. We know that a worker fell into a pit. We don’t know if the worker had a safety harness on and failed to properly secure it or if what is was secured to fail. We do know from the photos that it appears there was a handrail around the pit. Then how and why the worker fell into it? We don’t know, but if we get further information we will update this post.

Please comment.