RAYTHEON AND C&F ELECTRICAL SERVICES DEFENSE CONTRACTORS PLEADED GUILTY AND FINED AFTER WORKERS BADLY INJURED. THE FIRMS WANTED TO "CUT COSTS AT THE EXPENSE OF SAFETY" (THAT IS TYPICAL OF MOST COMPANIES).

THURSDAY, 16 APRIL 2015 

A global defence contractor has been fined £24,000 after two workers suffered horrific injuries in an accident at a Scots plant that builds laser guidance systems for missiles.

Steven Delargey and Russell Brand were carrying out out non-essential work at Raytheon Systems Ltd's Glenrothes plant in Fife.

The pair's employers C&F Electrical Services were fined £20,000.

They tried to replace capacitors while a high voltage electrical system was live because Raytheon did not want to interrupt production at the factory.

The pair suffered horrific injuries in the accident, with prosecutors stating the firm wanted to "cut costs at the expense of safety".

It happened after one of the capacitors they were removing came into contact with a pair of live busbars, causing an electrical flashover that severely burned them on the face, neck and arms.

Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard Mr Brand and Mr Delargey both had to be admitted to intensive care units for four days.

Mr Delargey suffered 10 per cent full thickness burns and was off work for almost a year and has been left with permanent scarring to his neck and face.

Raytheon build laser-guidance systems for missiles at the factory.

A Health and Safety Executive probe found that the work should not have gone ahead with the distribution board live and that the job was "not reasonable".

They found there was "no urgency" for the capacitors to be replaeced as they had been switched off for some time - and that the only effect of delaying the work would have been increased energy bills and issues meeting Carbon Trust emissions standards.

The court was told that "cost cutting at the expense of safety" was an "aggravating factor" in the case and that the risks were "entirely foreseeable".

Raytheon and C&F Electrical Services pleaded guilty to two charges on indictment under the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989.

Source: http://www.heraldscotland.com

1 WORKER WHO SURVIVED TANKER BLAST THAT KILLED 2 OTHERS WAS ATOP RAILCAR WEARING HARNESS. NEBRASKA RAILCAR CLEANING SERVICES HAD BEEN FINED BY OSHA BEFORE THE DEADLY EVENT

APRIL 16, 2015

OMAHA, NEBRASKA

One worker survived the explosion at a southeast Omaha rail yard that killed two men Tuesday afternoon.

Dallas Foulk, 40, and Adrian LaPour, 44, died while cleaning a tanker railcar near South First and Hickory Streets. Foulk was exiting the car and was blown off the railcar by the explosion, and LaPour was trapped inside when the ladder blew out.

A third worker was atop the railcar and wearing a harness, which prevented him from suffering any serious injuries when he too was blown off, said Scott Allen, a spokesman for the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

That worker’s name has not been made public.

“Many workers are injured or die on the job when just a few simple steps could have saved their lives or prevented injury,” Allen said.

OSHA officials were at the scene of the explosion Wednesday to investigate the company involved, Nebraska Railcar Cleaning Services.

OSHA investigated the company in 2013 and accused it of eight serious violations. As a result, Nebraska Railcar Cleaning Services paid nearly $7,000 in penalties.

On Wednesday, officials of Nebraska Railcar Cleaning Services issued a statement saying their thoughts and prayers were with the families of their “two valued employees.”

“We are working in full cooperation with authorities to discover details about the accident,” the statement said.

Omaha fire officials have not declared what caused the blast or what chemicals were in the tanker.

Battalion Chief Tim McCaw, a spokesman for the Fire Department, said that when crews arrived they couldn’t rush into the tank for fear that the mixture of gas and air inside was flammable and would lead to another explosion.

Based on witness accounts, firefighters knew that LaPour, stuck inside, was dead; they later spotted his body.

The teams ventilated the tank until they determined it was safe to go inside. LaPour’s body was retrieved at about 7:30 p.m., more than six hours after the explosion.

Crews were called to the scene, 120 Hickory Street, at 1:11 p.m. Witnesses later told officials a large explosion had blown one man to the ground and left one trapped inside.

Foulk, the man found on the ground, died a short time later at Creighton University Medical Center. His and LaPour’s relatives could not be reached Wednesday.

Results of the autopsies on the two men are pending, McCaw said.

Source: http://www.omaha.com

NEW VIDEO SHOWS THE SPACEX ROCKET LANDING ENDING IN A GIANT EXPLOSION, AFTER ELEMENTARY MISCALCULATION OF THE ROCKET SPEED UPON LANDING

APRIL 15, 2015

On Tuesday, April 14, the commercial spaceflight company SpaceX attempted what would have been a game-changing feat when it tried to land a rocket on a robotic platform in the Atlantic Ocean.

The idea is to create reusable rockets that detach from their payloads and fly back to Earth. Spaceflight companies could launch the same rocket over and over and dramatically reduce the cost of launches.

The technology is still in the works, and this landing attempt didn’t quite go as planned.

The rocket came in almost perfectly vertical, but as SpaceX CEO Elon Musk put it: 

Looks like Falcon landed fine, but excess lateral velocity caused it to tip over post landing pic.twitter.com/eJWzN6KSJa
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 14, 2015 

It was obvious that there was too much exhaust gas and resulting pressure that caused the rocket to flip and explode.  This was not even close.  Some very obvious and elementary miscalculations.

The only footage we had yesterday was this Vine that SpaceX released and it shows no rocket explosion (trying not to scare investors by providing half truths or avoiding the release of the aftermath or putting a positive spin on everything):

Now, there’s a video that shows what happened after the Vine cut off.

You can see the rocket start to tip over:

And then it hits the deck in a fiery explosion:

There definitely won’t be any reusable parts after that landing, which Musk mildly deemed “too hard for survival.”

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com.au

CONSTRUCTION CRANE HITS PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE, CAUSING IT TO COLLAPSE ONTO METRO, MARC TRAIN TRACKS IN PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, MARYLAND

APRIL 15, 2015

WASHINGTON, DC

A pedestrian bridge fell onto the Metro and MARC train tracks in Prince George’s County, Maryland, Wednesday afternoon.

A piece of construction equipment (a crane) operated by a Metro contractor hit a pedestrian bridge, causing the bridge to fall in the 5100 block of Berwyn Road in Berwyn Heights.

Thursday morning Metro service in the area will likely be affected.

There are no injuries and all workers are accounted for, says Prince George’s County Fire and EMS Spokesman Mark Brady.   

There were no civilians in the area.

In a news release, Metro says the contractor, Skanska, was performing work to support the construction of a new track.

MARC’s Camden Line service was suspended but has since resumed.  Trains 855 and 848 are canceled and riders can expect delays and crowded trains.

As for Metro, free shuttle bus service will take riders to Greenbelt and Metro’s Yellow Line service is operating to and from College Park.

Metro says the Greenbelt Station is expected to be closed for the Thursday  morning commute,  and advises riders to use use New Carrollton or College Park as alternates.

Metrorail isn’t honoring MARC tickets “due to the fact that Metrorail is also experiencing a severe service disruption,” MTA said in a news release.

Delays are expected through Wednesday evening.