"His prognosis is life-threatening...."

 

Our industry is a mix of new and older plants. Newer plants have the newest machinery with the latest safety mechanism. But, older plants commonly have machinery in operation as old as the plant. The editors of the blog have visited plants that had operating machinery that was decades old. The hidden hazard was that older machinery did not have the latest safety mechanism. The most common issue is lack of machine guarding. Here is a recent incident highlighting this hazard.

 

An employee seriously injured in a work accident at the (smelter)

A serious work accident occurred one night of (day omitted) around 3:15 a.m., at the (smelter) plant, located on the route (location omitted).

An accident this morning in the (smelter) plant around 3:15 a.m. (day and location).

According to the first elements, for a still unknown reason, a 53-year-old employee found himself trapped in a machine that violently compressed his rib cage.

Alerted quickly, the firefighters and a Samu team intervened on the scene, "in the Foundry sector", says the company.

After performing cardiac massage to resuscitate the victim, the emergency services rushed her to the (hospital 75 kilometers away).

His prognosis is life-threatening.

An investigation has been opened to determine the exact circumstances of this work accident.

An investigation has also been opened by the company to establish the circumstances and causes of the accident and identify "all complementary measures to protect employees and secure operations".

"Psychological care was immediately provided for the close colleagues and witnesses of the accident," says (smelter), which expresses "its full support to our injured colleague and his family".

The company concludes by reaffirming that the safety of employees is "a priority" and that "everything will be done to analyze the causes of this accident."

We offer our sincere prayers that the injured worker recovers fully from their injuries and recovers fully.

The news media article does not state what specific type of machinery the worker was trapped in. We will reach out to our contacts and will update when further information is available.