Pennsylvania man injured by drum at pellet plant — twice

A Pennsylvania man who suffered serious injuries in an October 2010 industrial workplace accident was apparently able to return to his job, only to be flown to a hospital recently after being involved in a second workplace accident. The man works for a company that turns sawdust into hardwood fuel pellets. His jobsite contains machinery with spinning parts that have injured him on two occasions.

The most recent accident, which occurred in mid-March 2014, happened when the man was removing ice from equipment. Ice had built up and was impeding the movement of a wheel inside of a piece of machinery shaped like a drum. While clearing out the ice, the man fell inside the drum. The wheel kept spinning, and the worker sustained severe cuts and contusions to his face and legs.

An assistant fire chief who responded to the accident said his injuries could have been worse, because sawdust inside the machine was gathering around the man. Fortunately, workers were able to get to the man within about five minutes, the assistant chief said.

The man was bruised and bloody. He was treated at by emergency workers at the scene until he was flown to a hospital for treatment. Local media reported that he was in fair condition.

In the 2010 workplace accident, the man was injured while cleaning sawdust from a machine. In 2012, he filed a product liability suit against the manufacturer of the equipment, alleging a failure to provide a safe way to clean out sawdust from the machine. His lawsuit claimed serious injuries to his leg and foot as well as financial losses. The case was settled in May 2013 for $100,000.

Source: observer-reporter.com, “Greene man falls into mechanical drum,” Tara Kinsell, March 18, 2014