05.09.2008

When is an accident not an accident?

A crane dropped a large steel tube on Wednesday which landed on a man’s leg at Keystone Cement company’s plant in East Allen Pennsylvania. The man is an employee of CCC of Texas, which is working as a general contractor on a construction project at the plant.

The man's injuries were described as non life threatening and the man was airlifted to hospital.

The three metre diameter tube is six metres long, it was being lifted into place by a crane and was being guided into position by several workers when it suddenly dropped catching a man’s leg, according to plant manager Stephen Hayden Jr.

The accident apparently happened outside of the plant's entrance in a ''lay-down area,'' where crane parts and equipment are kept before construction.

The plant is proud of its safety record and a sign in front of the plant says ''Safety is our bag, 60 days without a lost time accident.'' According to Hayden that remains true even after this accident.

''We've had minimal citations from MSHA (Mine Safety and Health Administration) over the years and we enjoy a good working relationship with MSHA,'' he said.

He added that because the man worked for a contractor, the plant's lost time accident record will not be affected.

Vertikal Comment

It seems that no matter how you look at it this accident was not going to count, it seems that contractors do not count, and you can be sure that if it had been an employee the excuse would have been that it had not occurred inside the plant proper,

The reader who sent this in said: Take note of the plant’s attitude to sub-contract workers, It reminds me of a shutdown at a chemical plant in Saudi I worked at. A hired-in Indian labourer broke his leg. The plant medics carried him to the parking lot and wrote it up as a trip….to save the plant’s 6 million hours without an LTA. (it happened outside the fence!)

Makes you think doesn’t it!