"Strong explosion, helicopter and an operator injured in the face..."

The lack of knowledge or experience injures and kills maintenance workers in our industry. Here is an example of a maintenance worker who lacked the knowledge otherwise they would not have performed the task. We post these incidents to bring awareness and education to prevent recurrences.

Strong explosion, helicopter and an operator injured in the face in a factory in the west

A man was cutting a drum with a tool when he suffered the accident. The red code was activated and the worker was taken by helicopter to a downtown sanatorium. The manager of the firm spoke

There was commotion in the (town name omitted) area at 8000 this noon, when a loud explosion was heard and minutes later the medical assistance helicopter descended on the scene. In a factory of aluminum profiles and paints (we assume the extrusion plant has a paint line), an operator suffered a serious accident, which caused a very deep cut on his face .

The manager of the company located in the western zone of (location omitted), spoke with (news media) at the door of the plant and explained the incident. She described that "a worker was cutting a 200-litre drum with a tool and there was an explosion . " And she added that "911 was called and that's why the helicopter came."

Due to the stupor generated by the explosion, the colleagues of the injured operator called 911 and the so-called red code for assistance to injured people was activated: “He was the only person injured; He has a deep facial cut but it is not serious, ”explained the company representative.

“We are a factory of aluminum profiles; It had all the protection elements”, commented the firm's manager. "It was not a serious explosion, but it was only in the sector, so it did not affect the rest of the company," she said. In any case, workers from other plants in the area assured (news media) that "a very loud bang was heard .  "

"We believe that it happened because there were traces of oil in the drum," the manager concluded in relation to the possible reason for the accident.

We pray that the injured worker recovers fully from his injuries. We commend the aluminium extrusion company for contacting the EMS immediately and acknowledging the seriousness of the injury. Our rule of thumb is a helicopter injury is very severe in so much that transport of the road in an ambulance was no advised.

Regarding this incident, it is more common to occur in a scrapyard than an aluminium plant. But, yet it is not unheard of. We recommend that any container be cut with high pressure water. At minimum, cut the ends off and then cut the remaining with a torch.

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