"Two workers die and three others save their lives..."

 

The required use of safety harnesses is commonplace in our industry. From operating machinery, maintenance operations, outside contractors, etc. Here is a recent incident emphasizing the hazard from working from height and not properly using a safety harness.

With no time to react, they died practically on the spot. The health services could do nothing to save the lives of two workers who, one morning during the week of August 8, 2021, suffered a spectacular accident after falling from a roof at the steel and aluminum transformation plant, located in Europe. They were 10 meters high with three other colleagues when the roof, in the process of removing asbestos and replacing it with sandwich panels, could not support the weight of both and of the materials required for the intervention. 

The employees, belonging to a “specialized” hazardous materials removal subcontractor of the construction company to which (metal services company) assigned these jobs, were of Romanian and North African origin. They were 28 and 41 years old, as sources from the Government Sub-delegation ended up confirming. Previously, at midmorning, the mayor of the local town, traveled to the factory together with the vice mayor to inquire about what happened. According to the councilor, the workers lacked a "hook lifeline", although they did have a protective mesh that covered "the entire roof." Unfortunately, everything seems to indicate that this network was only designed for "the own weight of the workers." 

As soon as the notification was received, shortly before 9:30 a.m., the 112 Emergency Center room mobilized a basic life support ambulance, a rapid intervention vehicle and a mobile ICU. The first information warned that the workers were "unconscious" and in critical condition. Several National Police (Citizen, Scientific and Judicial Security) and Local Police teams were also displaced, as well as two trucks and a Fire Department van. Apart from "securing the roof", their presence was also necessary to "free" the workers, buried under the rubble of the roof. According to municipal sources consulted by this newspaper, the hypothesis was being considered that "they must have miscalculated the weight they had placed on a certain space" of the roof.

As in previous years at this time, the (metal services company) factory remained closed to change the covers of the ships. These are works that are carried out gradually, in sections, to remove asbestos from the roof. At the time of the tragic event, together with the workers, only two people in charge of the plant and the head of occupational risk prevention were in the facilities, who "had just arrived" as mayor learned after gathering information the firemen and the examining magistrate. For their part, the judicial commission and labor inspectors also appeared at the scene to determine the ultimate cause of the accident together with the agents in charge of the investigation. 

Apart from publicly mourning the death of the two workers, the mayor said that the City Council will "immediately" make itself available to their families, pending location at that time, to offer them psychological assistance if they deem it necessary. In any case, he also called for "safety at work can prevent this type of mishap in the future." 

We pray that our comments are respectful to those involved and to the families. It is our sincere hope that are words not hurtful or insulting to the workers’ family, friends, or coworkers. Our hope is that the unimaginable pain the loved ones are experiencing now will lesson overtime. We pray that the workers’ families will remember their loved ones for how they lived and not how they died. If we could speak to the deceased workers’ families would promise to them that we will use this catastrophe to teach other workers about the importance of always securing your safety harness.

The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has posted incidents in the past where workers from a foreign country died and issues involved in sending the bodies back to their home. On one incident we reached out to our contacts and made them aware of the issues and thankfully the accelerated the transportation of the deceased to the homeland. We pray that the metal services company in this incident cover the transportation costs of the bodies back to Romanian and North Africa.

No doubt in our opinion the workers were in the process or moving between one secured point to another when the roof gave a way. The netting underneath was designed to catch a man failing not the roof structure. We anticipate finding out more of this incident in the future and will update as further information is provided.

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