The Weekly Toll

Worker killed in S.J. blast identified
By the Mercury News

The Santa Clara County coroner's office has identified the factory worker killed Friday in an explosion at United Technologies Corp. in South San Jose.

James Franklin Spotts, 47, of San Leandro died while working on a 400-gallon mixer used to make rocket fuel at the factory. Officials from UTC said Friday that the worker, an employee of Union City-based contractor Jenson Mechanical Inc., was making ``maintenance upgrades'' on the mixer.

Friday's blast follows another, larger, explosion that rocked the company's plant Aug. 7.

More here.



Trench collapse kills contractor on site

ATLANTA - A 31-year-old contractor from Woodstock died Thursday after a trench collapsed at a construction site in southeast Atlanta near Grant Park.

Family members identified the man killed as Richard Turem.

Mr. Turem was part of a three-person crew that was installing storm sewers, officials said. The soil around the project collapsed, officials said.

GREGG COUNTY FAIR
CARNIVAL WORKER ELECTROCUTED

LONGVIEW - The Gregg County Fair opened as scheduled Tuesday night, a day after a carnival worker died while working on a Ferris wheel.

Pat Crabtree, president of Crabtree Amusements, said the worker was Timothy J. Swickard, 20, of the Houston area, an employee who had worked for the company, based near the San Marcos area, for two seasons.

Swickard would have turned 21 later this month, Crabtree said.

Crabtree said Swickard was working on the ride's lights when the incident occurred. Another employee later noticed Swickard wasn't moving, he said.

"I believe he was electrocuted," he said, noting that he most likely came in contact with the device that gets power into the moving part of the wheel. Crabtree said Swickard was not following proper procedure because power was on in the area he was working.

Scaffolding Accident Kills 1 Person In Camden
Second Worker Injured

CAMDEN, N.J. -- One person is dead after a scaffolding collapsed Tuesday morning in Camden, N.J.

According to the Camden County Fire Department, the accident happened around 11:20 a.m. at Sixth Street and Penn streets, which is near the Rutgers University-Camden campus.

Authorities said Donatius McMahon, 44, of Delran, N.J., and another man were installing glass panes on the new Camden County College building.... The men were disassembling the scaffolding when it fell about 40 feet, or three stories. More here.

Second Blast Victim Confirmed Dead

Authorities have recovered the second body of two contract workers killed in a blast that rocked eastern Rockingham County yesterday afternoon.

The Rockingham Sheriff's Office identified the victims as Keith A. Dean, 44, of Grottoes, and Frank Domzalski, 45, of Timberville.

The two were welding on a sludge storage tank at the Coors Brewing Co. plant near Elkton when the explosion occurred between 2 and 3 p.m. yesterday.

Fire and rescue workers found Dean's body shortly after the blast. Authorities located Domzalski's body about 10 p.m. last night, said a spokeswoman with the sheriff's office. Authorities with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating the accident.

Barrel blast kills Eagle Alloy worker

Sunday, September 14, 2003

A 22-year-old Eagle Alloy Inc. employee was killed Saturday morning when a metal barrel he was cutting with a torch exploded.

Jason L. Nichols of Muskegon Township died at the steel foundry, 5142 Evanston, from injuries caused by the explosion

Sanitation Worker's death investigated

September 09, 2003

RED BLUFF, CA — The state has launched an investigation into the death of Christopher Lee Berry, 44, of Corning, who died in an industrial accident at GreenWaste of Tehama.

Berry was replacing the hydraulic cylinder inside the garbage truck when the accident occurred...The accident happened after Berry called out to fellow employee Jarrod Calder, who was standing outside the truck, to push a button that activates the packer, a device that compacts garbage, so he could place a rod. Although Berry believed he had set the packer to go forward, it went the other direction and crushed him in a matter of moments. More here.

OSHA Investigates Fatal Fall In Evanston
38-Year-Old Falls From Scaffolding Sunday

CHICAGO -- Federal investigators will try to determine Monday what caused a painter to fall to his death from a scaffold affixed to an Evanston office building.

Robert Klein, 38, fell Sunday from a building at 1029 Howard St. in the near north suburb, according to a spokesman for the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.

Friends recall surveyor killed in accident

September 6, 2003

WILTON CT-- As the investigation continued yesterday into the death of a Wilton man killed Thursday while working for a surveying company in Greenwich, his friends and colleagues recalled a tireless and intelligent worker who was also a champion orienteer.

Damon Douglas, 69, a senior surveyor for Stamford-based Redniss & Mead Inc., died while examining pipes with another employee inside a manhole on a private driveway of Prescott House, a residential development owned by Greenwich Hospital. As Douglas raised his head, he was struck by a sports utility vehicle, according to police. There were no cones or barricades protecting the manhole, police said.
More here.


Television tower collapse kills 3
09/05/03

HUNTSVILLE, AL - Three men were killed Thursday when the Huntsville television tower they were working on collapsed.

The tower of just more than 1,000 feet, including antenna, leased by WAAY-TV Channel 31 fell just after 1 p.m. Thursday, police said. Two workers died instantly and the other died later at Huntsville Hospital.

Names of the men were being withheld pending notification of family, police said.

All three men were above the 700-foot level adding support to the tower and putting in equipment for digital cable when the tower buckled below them, said Huntsville Police Sgt. Ed Cain. The tower collapsed on itself before the top part fell over, the tip of the antenna landing 15 feet or so behind the television station building, which sits atop Monte Sano Mountain. More here.

CRANE MAN CRUSHED IN S.I. COLLAPSE

September 4, 2003 -- A crane operator was killed and another worker injured when a 60-foot crane collapsed on a Staten Island loading dock yesterday, witnesses and officials said.

OSHA investigating blast that injured workers

Two workers who were seriously injured in an explosion Tuesday morning at Ametek Specialty Metals Products on Route 519 in Eighty Four remain hospitalized in Pittsburgh.

The federal Occupation Safety and Health Administration is investigating the explosion of the electrical arc furnace that burned Rudolph Paci, 38, of Brownsville, and James C. Sutch, 37, of Daisytown.


Police give construction site death case to OSHA

LAWRENCEVILLE — Police have turned over the investigation of a man who died Friday at a construction site to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

The unnamed victim died while working at a construction site near Jimmy Carter Boulevard and Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, where a shopping center is being built. He was dead when fire officials arrived, said Gwinnett Fire spokesman Chief Randy Robinson.

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