"We can't say anything..."

 

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: