Posted on 07/13/2005 8:17:57 AM PDT by Kokojmudd
By Becky Pallack ARIZONA DAILY STAR
A 23-year-old man who fell head-first into a 250-gallon tank of acid at his workplace Tuesday died two hours afterward from his injuries.
Two co-workers jumped into the 6-foot-deep tank to try to save Francisco Pedroza after they saw some equipment knock him into the trivalent chromate, an acid that's used to coat circuit boards and other metal products, said Katy Heiden, a Northwest Fire/Rescue District spokeswoman.
The pair pulled Pedroza out of the tank, which is about 8 feet long and 8 feet wide, with the help of two other colleagues, but the man's injuries were too severe, authorities said.
The accident occurred just before 9 a.m. at Automation Plating Corp., 7830 N. Business Park Drive, in Marana. Company managers would not comment for this article.
Pedroza was rushed to University Medical Center with injuries to his chest and spine and for extreme chemical burns to 70 percent of his body, said Capt. Adam Goldberg of Northwest Fire/Rescue's Hazardous Materials Team. Pedroza died around 11:30 a.m., officials said.
"Extreme acid burns very quickly," Goldberg said. Acid burns cause significant redness, blistering and shedding of the skin, he said.
The four would-be rescuers were hosed down and scrubbed with soap on a tarp outside the business. They suffered minor injuries in the rescue attempt, but were not hospitalized, Heiden said.
Inspectors from the Arizona Division of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration will investigate the accident to determine if there were any safety violations.
The last industrial-commission inspection of Automation Plating was in 2000, according to an online U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration database.
"I don't understand how the rescuers did not suffer the same fate after jumping into the vat. There msut be a bit more to this than we have seen."
If they worked in the area, they were probably wearing safety suits complete with hoods and gloves that gave them some added protection. Just a guess. Still risky.
I can come up with a likely scenario. Since the story also says he was knocked into the tank, I would bet that a hoist of some sort carrying a load struck him as he was standing next to a safety rail next to the tank. The rail caused him to pivot as he was struck and he went in head first. Injuries to the chest and spine could have occurred if the object that struck him was very heavy and the rail was fairly high.
Actually, I believe that on the scale of acids, what they were using is only moderately strong and nowhere near the strength of sulfuric acid.
Most likely there was some injury from the equipment that hit him in the first place, possibly knocking him unconscious and causing acid to get inside of house mouth and nose. Falling head first into a six-foot tank probably also caused spinal injuries from impact with the bottom. The rescuers likely jumped in feet-first, avoiding many of the same problems.
Acid OD? Bummer, man!
An 8' x 8' 250-gallon tank would be all of six inches deep.
These co-workers have balls of steel! What a horrible event...
Standard PH for that tank is 1.2 to 2
I was wondering when someone would bring up the Joker.
That is pretty strong. Wouldn't take long to burn you badly.
This article is replete with inconsistencies. The solution is described as "trivalent chromate". I know of no such animal. Generally, if a solution is described as trivalent, it is a chrome-based electroplating solution acidified with hydrochloric acid to a pH of 2-4, not likely to cause the severe burns described. (Cola soft drinks have a pH of about 4-5.)
Chromates, on the other hand, are hexavalent, not trivalent. Solutions containing chromates are used to produce "chromate conversion" coatings. Again, they are generally acidified, but not to the degree to cause extreme chemical burns.
Why did not the rescuers likewise receive "extreme chemical burns"?
The victim was likely knocked into the tank by an automated hoist used to move racks of parts (work in process) from one tank to another.
The victim likely died from mechanical injuries or from swallowing solution.
I'd guess that 1) They didn't spend as much time in the acid as the man who died, and 2) The man who fell in head first probably aspirated and/or swallowed some of it, which is probably what actually killed him.
I heard this on the local (Tucson) news last night. No mention of an identity for the guy. My suspicion is that he's an illegal...
Rule # 1: Do not become part of the problem.
Something makes me think that they might have contributed to the incident. Guilt can initiate great bravery in such instance.
Hear, Hear.
No greater love!!!! Can you imagine how proud you would be of your child for doing this for someone else. Many heartfelt prayers to the family of the victim.
Illegal or not, it is still a horrible way to die. If he was an illegal and working there, then his illegal status is something to take up with management. He didn't hire himeself. As long as American businesses keep hiring illegals, they will keep coming. If the work was to dry up, so would the illegals looking for work.
No Habla
Back in the late 1980's, a commuter airplane crashed into the Potomac River in the middle of a brutal winter. A passerby stopped his car, got out, and dove into the freezing waters in an effort to get people out of the sinking plane.
He saved 6 people, telling them he wanted to try to bring out one more (the plane was now completely submerged and sinking deeper still).
He never resurfaced.
He was completely blameless in this situation, did nothing to cause the accident, was unrelated to any of these individuals. Just an average human being, reacting with loving heart, that was capable of extraordinary bravery in the face of an extreme situation.
Six people are alive today because of his selfless sacrifice. I'm sure that some might want to look at his circumstances and think him foolish; but for those six people and their families, he is a HERO.
I saw a video just a few years ago where a chopper had an accident and wound up overturning in a creek bed. Friends of the chopper pilot were nearby. The pilot was trapped upside down and underwater. A huge hulk of a man, knicknamed "Tiny," charged into the water, oblivious to the danger, and literally hoisted the helecopter out of the water enough for other friends to unfasten the pilot and get him out.
Back when I was a child, my brothers were working on our back porch (an enclosed porch), fixing their minibike. Although they had taken the precaution of draining the fuel from the minibike, their efforts were not complete. A spark from the sparkplug ignited the fuel. They jumped back from the bike, which tipped over and knocked over the recipticle they had put the drained fuel in, causing a wall of flames on the back porch, trapping them in the corner.
My father heard my brothers screams from the front yard, charged through the fire and pulled my brothers to safety, then retreated into the house for the fire extinguisher, which he used to put the fire out. Because he reacted so quickly, none of my brothers was hurt and the damage to the back porch was minimal.
I believe that every person possesses the capacity to perform great acts. Not everyone is confronted with situations where they must act; not everyone believes themselves capable of them. Most people do not actively seek them out, or think to themselves, "Hey, I could really be a hero if I do this." They JUST DO IT.
And thank God that they do.
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