"Multiple crush injuries, as well... 2nd and 3rd degree burns"

The design of our workplaces for the most part does not factor in worker movement in terms of safety. We have commented on many greenfield plants that the design/layout of a workplace has hidden hazards that won’t be realized till much later. Here is a recent incident that could have been contributed to by the layout of machinery and equipment.

 

The worker, a 25-year-old boy from town in Southern Europe while using a horizontal scrolling machine, a trolley in the process of working with molten metals, reported a crushing in the upper part of the trunk.

 

And he was seriously injured in several places. Chest. Multiple crush injuries, as well as to the head - a head injury - also to the face and chest. Where he reported 2nd and 3rd degree burns. And then, burns to both arms. In serious condition, he was transported by helicopter rescue to the (town omitted) hospital 40 kilometers away.

 

The incident yesterday at 5.30 pm

 

The accident at work occurred in the afternoon, shortly after 5.30 pm yesterday, at (name omitted), a company active in the aluminum die casting sector. 

An industrial area, where the warehouses alternate on both sides of the road. According to what was possible to reconstruct at a very early stage, there would have been no other witnesses on the spot. The boy was found, at first, under a press. With the intervention on the spot of the (police department), the firefighters of the provincial command of (name omitted) through the staff of the police detachment, and the staff of (name omitted) as usual, all the useful elements were collected for a first reconstruction.

 

First aid

 

The first to arrive: the 118 rescuers. With an ambulance from the local Red Cross, the emergency medical service and the 118 helicopter rescue. After the treatment on the spot, it was decided to transport the young worker in red code to the hospital (40 kilometers). Flashing lights illuminate the dark late afternoon sky in the industrial area.

 

The helicopter rescue, landed inside a large flowerbed of the part of the craft area shared with other companies, took off around 6.45pm. The workers of the neighboring companies, who came out of the other warehouses at the end of the working day, found the vehicles involved in rescuing them under their eyes. The news of the injury spread shortly after.

We pray that the injured worker recovers fully from his injuries which appear to be significant. Not understanding this workplace’s layout makes it difficult to comment. So how can a the reader use this incident to make their own workplace safer? Ask the question is if there are trolleys or machinery that workers can be trapped against.

We have reported on numerous incidents where machinery (e.g., robotic movement of crucibles) handling molten metal have pinned workers against a crucible and an immovable object. In most case the workers enter an area where they are not allowed. Workers are instructed not to enter certain areas. But, unless there are physical barriers preventing entering. Workers can still enter. We recently saw an incident where the enclosure around a piece of machinery had a gate that was electronically triggered to shut the machinery if it was opened. So, what did the maintenance personnel do? They took down the fence panel adjacent to the gate and entered the machinery enclosure while it was operating. That should never be allowed nor tolerated. It is imperative that every fence panel that makes an enclosure around machinery be configured with an electronic guard to prevent that scenario.

When we learn more about this incident we will post a follow up.

Please comment.