Articles Tagged with Fatal Work Accidents

According to a recent news article from CNN, a man was working at scrapyard when he was killed by large explosion. After an initial investigation, it has been determined the explosion was caused by a Mk 82 general purpose bomb used by the United States military, where it can be dropped by various types of aircraft.

The Mk 82 bomb weighs 500lbs and is currently among the smallest non-guided aerial ordinance used in the United States military. The bomb carried a Tritonal high explosive warhead that weighs around 200 pounds. While the bomb itself is considered a “dumb” bomb, it can actually be inserted into a laser guided or GPS guided smart bomb to serve as the new weapon’s warhead. These bombs have been used for a many years, and thousands of them were dropped during the Persian Gulf War in 1991. Despite their long time in service, they are still used today, and it is unclear to authorities and the Department of Defense (DOD) how a live Mk 82 ended up in a scrapyard in Arizona. Continue reading

Despite the recent drop in gas prices, gas is still much higher than it was a decade ago, and people are doing what they can to reduce the amount of money they spend on their daily commute. For some, that means buying smaller cars or trucks. For others, purchasing a hybrid, such as a Prius, is a good way to save on gas. However, the way to save the most on gas is to purchase a fully electric car. Toyota makes a Prius model with this option, as do Nissan and Chevrolet with their respective Leaf and Volt models. However, if you are looking for something sportier than one of these small economy cars, and are willing to spend around $100,000, you could get one of the new Tesla fully electric sports cars now available.

While driving an electric car has obvious advantages, you need to fully charge the car at your home before getting behind the wheel, because, if you run out of battery, you will have to plug the car in and wait hours before it is recharged. This limitation on driving distances is one of the major reasons more people have not adopted fully electric cars, and the lack of infrastructure around the country is not helping. Even in cities like Boston, where it would be perfect, there are not many places to stop and recharge. Continue reading

There is no question that construction workers toil in one of the most dangerous industries in the nation. Each year, many construction workers are injured, and some are killed, in accidents involving falling off roofs and other high structures, heavy machinery accidents, and a variety of other serious accidents involving the use of power tools.   We also tend to see a lot of vehicle accidents on construction sites, due to the use of over-sized vehicles, which often have poor visibility.

However, from time to time, we see more unusual types of accidents involving construction workers, and some of these accidents can also prove fatal. According to a recent news article from the Press Enterprise, a construction worker was killed on the job in a bee attack. Continue reading

Work-related injuries and illnesses are usually the result of an accident, such as a box or large piece of machinery falling on a worker or accidental occupational exposure to dangerous chemicals. However, a work-related injury or even death can also be the result of intentional violent conduct committed by a co-worker, company vendor, or even a third party assailant.

According to a recent news article from USA Today, a mother in a child custody dispute killed the social worker assigned to her case and is suspected of killing three members of her own family. Authorities say the 40-year-old mother was upset because she had lost custody of her nine-year-old daughter and went to the social worker’s office with a .270 caliber rifle. As the social worker was leaving her office by the rear door, suspect allegedly fired at social worker, hitting her in the upper torso and upper extremities and killing her.    Police believe that at least one of the gunshots was fired at close range. Continue reading

According to a recent news article form NECN, a worker in Plymouth was killed when an avalanche of sand trapped and crushed him and the bulldozer he was driving. He was working for a sand and gravel company, and he and other workers were operating bulldozers and other heavy machinery to remove sand from a large pile that measured over 150 feet high.

More than two dozen emergency workers from across Plymouth County arrived to help get the trapped workers out from under the sand. They used heavy equipment and teams of workers to try and unearth the bulldozer, but more sand and large rocks would fall on top of what they had just removed, making it virtually impossible to make any progress in a short of amount of time. As the day wore on, and the temperature became hotter, the sand would dry out, making it even more difficult to move.

Authorities say the were finally able to reach far enough into the large bulldozer to grab the employees hand, but quickly realized the 65-year-old man was nonresponsive, as he had been killed by the weight of the sand or possibly from asphyxiation. Continue reading