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.
How in the hell could this person even be in a position to fall head first into the acid?
There's got to be major OSHA violations here.
Don't discount the stupidity of the worker. A similar accident happened at my employer - a person ignored safety rules and was standing on the cover of a vat of caustic liquid when the cover collapsed.
I should send this to my brother and say "See! Dropping acid IS harmful!"
*groan*
I'm wondering just HOW he got knocked into the tank by equipment.
Swinging robot arm or something that he wasn't paying attention to?
You expressed my same thought.
No kidding! Good job boys.
There was an article up yesterday that said a piece of machinery hit him from behind and knocked him into the the vat.
What a horrific way to die.
Not to mention dumb
More people get killed trying to be heroic when it comes to chemical exposure or IDLH atmospheres.
Those rescueres were lucky to not suffer the same fate
Now, that had to hurt...
I can't help thinking that this death was a mercy to him.
As for the guys who jumped in after him ... I guess now they know what kind of stuff they're made of. Horrible way to find out, but there's got to be a lot of comfort in knowing that they responded well when it counted.
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.
Hmmmmm....
6 x 8 x 8 = 384 ft3 = 2872 gallons
So it's probably a 2500-gallon tank, not a "250-gallon".
"Not to mention dumb "
Rescue workers are trained to assess a situation and so you seldom see them take risky chances. But for everyday people, they just do things without even thinking about the personal risks. These guys were totally focused on saving the life of a friend. They weren't dumb, they were just reacting.
The difference might be (just guessing here) that the first guy fell in head first, wheras the others waded in? They were probably all wearing the right gear, but it's really hard to acid-proof your head. Just my guess.
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