Investigating Issues in the International Nutrition Industrial Accident
The International Nutrition plant, in operation for more than 40 years, made nutritional additives for livestock and poultry feed. Industrial plant structures like the silos, tanks, and storage bins in use at the plant suffer varying amounts of corrosion and wear over time just from the materials processed through them. Our industrial accident injury lawyers note that the different materials also have differing thresholds on friction and bursting, for instance.
As discussed in another of our recent posts, ordinary materials like grain can ignite and explode when suspended in the air in sufficient quantity in dust form. The force of the explosion can collapse the plant, and the resulting fire can cause serious or fatal injury to those trapped by the concrete, timber and steel of the structure. Between 1980 and 2005, the federal Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board noted more than 280 accidents involving combustible dust. Those explosions killed 119 workers, injured more than 700 others, and caused massive property damage in the industrial structures where they occurred.
As dangerous and deadly as these industrial accidents can be, your risk of being killed in a car wreck on the way to or from work is 35,000 times greater than your risk of dying in a structural collapse at work. But the industrial accident injury lawyers at Denena Points, PC understand that the relative risk is no consolation to the injured or killed workers and their families after a tragic industrial accident.
OSHA investigators and other authorities are currently trying to determine the sequence of events leading up to the collapse and explosion at the International Nutrition plant in Omaha. That tragic accident killed David Ball and Keith Everett and hospitalized at least 10 other workers. The authorities’ careful investigation will help them discover what causes contributed to the accident (there could be several in such a complex incident) and what additional safety precautions might help prevent other, similar disasters.
They have already collected photos and some unspecified pieces of evidence from the site. The investigators are also likely in the process of interviewing survivors of the collapse, and examining building plans, inspection and maintenance reports, and inventory records to determine what structural components failed and what substances inside the building might be prone to combust in dust form.
Firefighters braved seriously threatening conditions to get to the trapped and injured workers after the International Nutrition plant collapsed. The temperatures were well below freezing and they reportedly endured the spray of extremely cold water from the building’s sprinkler system. All the while, unsound, sagging masses of partially collapsed steel and concrete loomed over their heads.
Rescue workers said that they could tell right away that the two deceased workers were tragically beyond their help. And they focused on getting badly burned victims out of the wreckage and on sawing a man out of the debris that trapped his legs. They also faced the daunting task of rescuing workers trapped 70 feet above on what remained of the third floor. Their efforts were truly heroic. Our industrial accident injury lawyers have written several articles discussing the greatest danger firefighters face: structural collapses as they work inside burned buildings. Use the internal search feature on our web page to find articles on this topic.