40% of man’s body burned: Was fatigue a factor?
March 18, 2010 by Fred HosierPosted in: Chemical safety, In this week's e-newsletter, Injuries, Latest News & Views, Safety training, fire/explosion
An employee faces a slow, painful recovery after being burned over 40% of his body following a workplace explosion.
An explosion at Superior Asphalt in Grand Rapids, MI, left 34-year-old Bill Zetty with second and third degree burns on most of his upper body, including his arms, chest and face.
Doctors put Zetty in a medical coma because the burns were so painful. His sister, Penny Nagelhout, says when they change the dressings, not even the induced coma can keep him down. He wakes up in the worst pain.
Doctors won’t know for a while whether he’ll need to have skin grafts.
Although the exact cause of the explosion hasn’t been determined, the company owner told a local TV station that Zetty was lighting a torch head without realizing gas was leaking.
Zetty’s sister says her brother often worked long hours at the request of the company, sometimes as much as 30 hours straight.
“He could have been tired out of his mind,” she said. “Employers need to make sure employees are working the proper amount of hours.”
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board recently issued a safety bulletin outlining seven key lessons for employees about hot work in and around storage tanks.
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Tags: burned, Chemical Safety Board, hot work
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March 23rd, 2010 at 10:55 am
OMG!!!!!!!!!
One of the main reasons no one should be permitted to work more than a double shift and that should be limited as to how many per week.
March 24th, 2010 at 11:55 am
I find it mind boggling that OSHA still has not created a rule that will regulate how many hours an employee can be required to work. We have so many rules covering simple things, but nothing that protects the worker from unscrupulous supervisors who demand ungodly hours from their employees. In my humble opinion, 16 hours per day should be the max and not more than 3 days per work week at those hours. It is a proven fact that after 10 hours on the job, meaningful production drops off dramatically and after 12 hours that production is nearly non-existant. So what’s the point! Not only does production falter, but the fatigue factor causes the probability for accidents and injuries to skyrocket. I wish OSHA would step up to the plate and create a hardball regulation to put a halt to this abusive practice by employers. Just my humble opinion.
May 4th, 2010 at 7:08 pm
I agree with your humble opinion Safety Greg. I doubt I could stay awake for 30 hours. I’m luck if I can stay away for l5. In fact, I want to nap now (it’s 4pm). OSHA has made a hard and fast rule about everything else so why not the number of continuous hours allowed to work.