There is nothing wrong with older machinery in our workplaces. Except, if the older machinery does not have the latest safety mechanisms on it. Many times a tragedy will occur and we will learn what occurred. Through this information we can assume whether or not older machinery was involved in the tragedy. That is because new safety mechanisms would prevent most accidents involving older machinery. Here is a recent tragedy that we assume involved older machinery.
He was operating a
machine inside the factory where he worked when he was crushed. This is how the
worker (name omitted) originally from (nearby town) but resident for some years
in (local town0, died in the night at the age of 30. The umpteenth fatal
accident at work occurred around 1.30 during a night shift in the (aluminium) Extrusion
company in (town and description of neighborhood omitted)
Reconstruction
According to what was
reconstructed at the time, (deceased worker) was, together with a colleague,
intent on working on a large press inside the shed.
The two workers were
positioned opposite each other several meters apart. At a certain point in the
process, for reasons still to be ascertained, in performing a maneuver the
victim became entangled in a closing phase and was crushed by the machinery.
The colleague who was with him, when he realized what had happened, immediately
called for help.
Rescue
The call for help came
to the single emergency number 112. The crew of an ambulance from (nearby city)
and the helicopter rescue intervened on the spot during the night, landing in
the square in front of the company.
(Local hospital) nurses
tried to revive him and did their best to try to save his life. Unfortunately,
the attempts were useless, for the young worker there was nothing to do and the
health personnel could not do anything but ascertain his death. In the shed of
the (aluminium) Extrusion, in addition to the sanitary workers, the carabinieri
of (two nearby towns), the firefighters of (nearby town), then the staff of the
complex prevention and safety structure of the work environments of (local
providence) and the (local safety organization) intervened.
The seizure
The investigation into
the tragic death of (worker’s name omitted) was coordinated by the magistrate
on duty, the deputy prosecutor of the (providence name omitted) Public
Prosecutor's Office, headed by the head acting (name omitted), and who, present
on the spot, in the first instance ordered the perimeter of the area where the accident
occurred, the seizure and the suspension of production as usual. In jargon, the
place of the fatal accident is "crystallized", a conservative
intervention of the shed. The investigators and inspectors of the health
company worked throughout the night and the investigations lasted until late
morning just to reconstruct the dynamics and causes of the accident.
It was then the funeral
company (name omitted) to take care of the removal and transport of the body,
after the authorization of the judicial authority, an autopsy was ordered on
the body of the young worker. The hearse left the (town name) plant around 10
am and silence fell in an atmosphere of bewilderment, disbelief and pain.
The factory
Outside the factory in (town
name omitted)– a company specialized in the production of extruded aluminum
profiles to design, which today has (several) production sites in (town name
omitted) in the province of (name omitted) and, precisely, that of Mariano del
Friuli where about forty employees work – there were (deceased worker’s) astonished
colleagues, the plant managers and some relatives of the victim. "We can't
say anything..." answers the switchboard of the (aluminium) Extrusion a
female voice.
We offer our sincere
condolences to the deceased worker’s family, friends, and coworkers. We feel it
would be fruitless to try to relate to the unimaginable pain that they are experiencing.
We pray that this tragedy is used to prevent others. That is our sincere hope. We
do that by hopefully being respectful to the injured or deceased workers and
not mentioning the company nor their location. Why? Because we feel there are
three groups of individuals who care about the company name, and they should. It
is the widow, orphans, and lawyers. For us, we respectfully do focus on the
company nor location but pray that by publicizing this horror. We can prevent a
recurrence. How?
By, printing this incident out and asking your workplace “Can this happen here?” Then taking action on what the answer is. If that can be done then maybe, just maybe this incident as horrible as it is can be used for something good. That is our hope. That is why for the past thirteen years we have wept a thousand tears for the incidents we posted. We told an audience recently that when we speak about safety we feel that we are representing the families of workers who been injured and killed in our industry. It is because of them that we continue with this blog. We pray that there will be a time that we won’t have anything to post. When a week goes by that there is not an incident that injures and kills. That is what we pray for.
We feel this extrusion press
was older and may have lacked the current safety mechanisms. Why? Because from
the description of the incident, newer presses has safety mechanisms to prevent
a worker from entering an area where they could be crushed.
The Aluminium Times Magazine
had an article on older machinery. If can be found here:
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