UPDATE FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS AT 10:40AM CENTRAL TIME 1/31/14
ST. MARYS, Pa.
(AP) — The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the
coroner were still investigating a fatal industrial accident at a Mersen USA
plant in western Pennsylvania.
Elk County
Coroner Michelle Muccio isn’t releasing the victim’s name saying the incident
remains “under investigation” and referred questions to Mersen
officials. Police in St. Marys, who are also investigating, declined comment
Friday and referred questions to Mersen.
So far, the
company has described Thursday morning’s incident as an “equipment related
accident” that killed one worker and hurt two others.
The death is the
second at the facility about 100 miles northeast of Pittsburgh in three years.
The other worker died in April 2012 when he was impaled on a fork lift while
stacking storage bins at the plant.
A company
official didn’t immediately offer additional comment Friday.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
UPDATE: Overnight on January 31, Mersen Vice President of Communications Veronique Boca sent the following statement to tED magazine:
“Yesterday we had an equipment
related accident at our plant here in St Mary’s that invovled three employees
of Mersen. There has been one fatality, another employee is hospitalized
with serious injuries and a third employee has been injured but is expected to
make a full recovery. The local authorities have determined that operations are
safe to continue in the facility.
We will continue to cooperate with the appropriate officials but our immediate
focus is on the three employees and their families who have been impacted by
this accident as well as supporting the rest of our workforce.”
tED magazine has also learned that one of the victims expected to survive is Neil Carter, who suffered fractured bones in his face, a collapsed sinus cavity and a large cut on his head. His daughter told a local television station he was thrown when the explosion happened and landed on his face. The other injured employee was treated at a local hospital and released.
From the Associated Press:
ST. MARYS, Pa.
(AP) — One employee has been killed and two injured in an industrial accident
at a Mersen USA plant in western Pennsylvania.
Noah Nichelson,
the general manager of the plant in St. Marys, says in a statement that an
“equipment related accident” occurred about 9 a.m. Thursday.
The statement
says the company is cooperating with investigators and is otherwise focused on
helping the families of the employees.
The plant is
located about 100 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
It wasn’t
immediately clear what kind of work the employees were doing when the accident
occurred, but Elk County emergency dispatchers say an explosion was reported.
The county
coroner and St. Marys police are investigating, but did not immediately return
calls for comment.
The company’s
statement says one of the surviving employees was hospitalized with serious
injuries, but the other should fully recover.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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