I get a lot of health and safety-related news alerts emailed to be every day.\u00a0 Some days are worse than others. Here is a sample from yesterday.\u00a0 (With a little commentary.)<\/p>\n
Someone asked me this morning how writing this blog doesn’t throw me into depression.\u00a0 To some extent it’s an outlet, keeping me from kicking the dogs and throwing things at TV. But then there are days like today when it all seems like too much.<\/p>\n
NC father of 3 killed in tree-cutting accident involving power lines<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Brian \u201cKeith\u201d Wilmoth, 31, from Wilkes County, North Carolina, died Wednesday after a tree he was cutting fell on him after it hit power lines.\u00a0Brian \u201cKeith\u201d Wilmoth, 31, from Wilkes County, died Wednesday after a tree he was cutting fell on him after it hit power lines. “Officials do believe what happened Wednesday morning was just an accident, but OSHA and other officials will be looking into the situation.”<\/p>\n I never can figure out what “just an accident” means. Just “one of those things.”\u00a0 Unavoidable? “Freak” accident?<\/em><\/p>\n Pipeline worker thrown into fence, died instantly<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n A pipeline worker,\u00a0Wesley J. Johnson, 60, was killed Monday in Wooster, OH when a natural gas line blew. He was thrown into a fence and died instantly. He and another Columbia Gas Transmission worker were completing maintenance at a metering station. Investigators believe the end cap came off the pipe, spewing natural gas and other materials used in the transmission line. The pressure of the materials threw Johnson backward into the fence.<\/p>\n So what do we have here? Poor valve maintenance? Bad training? Faulty procedures? All of the above?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Bourbonnais man dies from possible pesticide exposure in Chicago Ridge<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Derek Mesenbring, 31, died after he was exposed to\u00a0methyl bromide<\/a>\u00a0at a Chicago Ridge chemical plant.\u00a0 was at work when he began feeling ill on Monday afternoon. His wife\u00a0called the Chicago Ridge Police Department and asked them to check up on her husband at\u00a0Industrial Fumigant Co.<\/a>, a company that provides pest management and sanitation solution services. He had complained to her earlier that he wasn’t feeling well.\u00a0When officers, they saw Mesenbring’s car parked in the lot.<\/p>\n Methyl bromide is particularly dangerous. “Soon after inhalation of large doses, symptoms may include headache, dizziness, nausea, chest and abdominal pain, and a dry throat. Three to 12 hours after vapor inhalation, symptoms include slurred speech, blurred vision, temporary blindness, mental confusion, and sweating. More severe symptoms may include lung swelling; congestion; hemorrhaging of the brain, heart, and spleen; severe kidney damage; and numbness. Death may occur within 1-30 hours, usually from respiratory failure.” So, he was feeling ill. Working alone. His wife had to call the police who found his car in the parking lot.\u00a0 There’s a lot that doesn’t make sense here. And working with such a toxic product, what kind of hazard communication training had he received?<\/em><\/p>\n Worker killed in Streamwood sewer line<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n A 22-year-old ,\u00a0Brett Morrow, 22<\/i>\u00a0was killed Wednesday while\u00a0adding a fiberglass lining to a sewer line. A neighbor said\u00a0\u00a0he was drawn to the scene from his house by the odor of the liner’s sealer.<\/p>\n So how does a sewer lining company not know enough about confined spaces to have a worker — apparently working alone — apply a substance to the inside of a sewer line whose fumes are so strong that a neighbor was bothered by the odor?<\/em><\/p>\n Worker dead in Corona roof plunge<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n A worker installing solar panels at a Corona home was killed when he plunged two stories to the sidewalk on October 19. The 60-year-old Sunrun Solar employee was installing solar panels on a two-story home when he fell while testing\u00a6 anchors installed on the roof to hold the panels. The worker was pulling on the anchors to make sure they were secure, an eyewitness told police. “He wasn\u2019t wearing a harness or safety belt up there. He wasn\u2019t tied on to anything on the roof, and when he pulled at a loose anchor he just flew off the roof,\u201d the eyewitness said.<\/p>\n How often do you see a worker up on a one or two story roof in your neighborhood not using fall protection? Just because someone is working on a residential home and not an commercial worksite doesn’t mean that fall protection isn’t needed. Gravity wins.<\/em><\/p>\n Worker rescued from collapsed trench in Baltimore<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n A private contractor was buried up to his chest when a 15- to 20-foot trench collapsed on him in the Pulaski Industrial Area in Baltimore early Wednesday, the Fire Department said.<\/p>\n This was an extremely lucky worker. But 15-20 feet deep? Really? The OSHA standard says that any trench deeper than 5 feet has to be shored.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n