Electrician electrocuted by 12,000 volt line in North Little Rock, Arkansas

Contract worker shocked in NLR accident


By ArkansasOnline

AUGUST 26, 2015
North Little Rock, AR


A contract worker was electrocuted in an accident that also caused a power failure, authorities said Wednesday.

North Little Rock Fire Department Fire Marshal John Pflasterer said the man was working shortly before 11:15 a.m. on a 12,000-volt line on Willow Beach Road when part of it fell on him. The man was airlifted to UAMS Medical Center with what Pflasterer estimated were burns to 20 percent of his upper body.

"But he was conscious when our guys got there," Pflasterer said, describing the worker as a white man in his 30s.

Jill Ponder, energy services manager for the agency, said the worker had sustained unspecified injuries. She said she had no further information.

"We ask that the public keep him and his family in their thoughts," a statement on the utility's Facebook page said.

The utility said the power failures were in the Faulkner Lake area. The statement said crews were "working to restore power as soon as possible."

WIllow Beach Road runs off U.S. 165 east of Interstate 440.

1 worker with Berwald Roofing has died after falling 50 feet and another injured as the result of an accident on the roof of the Vikings stadium in Minnesota

Richard Tsong-Taatarii, Star Tribune
  Gallery: 1 dead, 1 injured at Vikings stadium construction site

Construction workers, wearing their yellow vests, filed out of the stadium in a grim mood, barely an hour after their shift had begun.







By John Anderson August 26, 2015

Minneapolis, Minnesota

One worker was killed and another injured during construction Wednesday morning on the roof at the new Minnesota Vikings stadium.


The workers, from Berwald Roofing, were hurt about 7:45 a.m. on the stadium’s north side, said a statement from John Wood, senior vice president for Mortenson Construction.


Both were treated at the scene and taken to nearby Hennepin County Medical Center, Wood said. The surviving worker was in serious condition, he added.


One man fell to his death from the roof into a snow gutter 50 feet below, construction officials said during a media briefing, while the other was injured on the roof. Mortenson said it doesn’t yet have information on whether the two were wearing safety harnesses.


The incident brought work on the stadium to a halt. The site is usually teeming with 1,200 workers daily. Wood said it’s possible that construction could resume Thursday.


Berwald is a roofing and sheet metal company in North St. Paul whose projects include Target Field, Williams Arena and Highland Library. The owners, brothers Gene and Ken Berwald, and other company officials were not immediately available for comment.




Apprentice electrician Coshay Murray was waiting to get picked up after the incident.


“We’re all a little traumatized today,” he said.


A rescue effort by Fire Department personnel retrieved the injured victim from a crevice of the roof, according to authorities. Fire crew members used a rescue basket, ropes and cables to retrieve the person atop the future home of the pro football team, according to the department.


There is no immediate word on how the incident on the east edge of downtown occurred.


Mortenson has been involved in many of the major sports construction projects in the Twin Cities in recent years, including Target Field, TCF Bank Stadium and the Xcel Energy Center. There were no deaths associated with any of those efforts.


Messages of sadness and condolence came in from many quarters within hours of the incident.


“Today is an extremely sad day for the Minnesota Vikings organization and the entire stadium team,” Vikings management said in a statement. “Our sincere thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the individual who passed away, the worker who remains hospitalized, and the more than 1,000 dedicated construction workers who are on the site every day and are also affected by this accident.”


After morning practice Wednesday, Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer said, “I was told about the accident at the stadium. … It’s a sad day for us. Our prayers and thoughts go out to the families.”


Mayor Betsy Hodges said that “we in Minneapolis grieve for the loss of the worker who lost his life in a tragic accident. … We also send our wishes for a thorough and speedy recovery to the other worker who was injured today.”


Demolition of the 32-year-old Metrodome occurred in early 2014, and construction of the new building began shortly thereafter.


From the beginning, the project has been moving toward opening next summer for the 2016 NFL season.


Installation of purple seats began last week, and the roof was to be completed by winter.


In late March, high winds blew down scaffolding on the edge of the stadium project. The roof of a trailer was damaged, but no one was hurt.


In the fiscal years from 2010 through 2014, Minnesota OSHA investigated 27 fatalities due to falls, said agency spokesman James Honerman. Citations issued or workplace “fall protection” violations in Minnesota totaled 564 in fiscal year 2014, Honerman added.

 


Here is info from this roofing company's web pages:

BERWALD ROOFING COMPANY, INC.
MINNESOTA’S PREMIER ROOFING, WALL PANEL, AND SHEET METAL COMPANY

Welcome to Berwald Roofing & Sheet Metal Company, Minnesota’s premier roofing, wall panel, and sheet metal company. Whether you’re an architectural firm, contractor or private owner, we’ll work with you to fulfill all your roofing, wall panel, and sheet metal needs with service you can rely on from the initial concept of a project to completion.

Berwald is a full service company – no job is too large or extraordinary. We are a leading contractor in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area specializing in all forms of roofing, waterproofing, architectural wall panels, and architectural/ ornamental sheet metal. Our management team has a combined 371 years of construction experience, and we employee over 180 field personnel (20 years average experience) and 14 management and supervisor personnel. Whatever your needs, we have the knowledge and expertise to get the job done right.

Woman killed in hit-and-run involving stolen car in New Olreans

Authorities are searching for two people suspected of jumping out of a stolen Kia Rio found at the scene of a fatal hit-and-run Sunday night (Aug. 23) that took the life of a 35-year-old woman in eastern New Orleans. (Google Maps)

  By Jonathan Bullington, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
  on August 25, 2015

 
Authorities are searching for two people suspected of jumping out of a stolen Kia Rio found at the scene of a fatal hit-and-run Sunday night (Aug. 23) that took the life of a 35-year-old woman in eastern New Orleans.

Authorities found the Kia around 9:20 p.m. near the intersection of Chef Menteur Highway and Downman Road, where investigators believe it struck and killed the woman as she crossed Chef Menteur on her motorcycle.

The impact threw the woman from her motorcycle, police said. She was taken by EMS to an area hospital, where she was pronounced dead sometime Monday.

The Kia, reported stolen out of Jefferson Parish, then struck another vehicle, police said, causing unspecified injuries to a woman inside that car. After coming to a stop, two people exited the Kia and ran from the scene, police said.

NOPD traffic fatality investigator Michael Baldassaro is in charge of the investigation, and can be reached at 504-658-6205. Anyone with information about this fatal hit-and-run can also contact Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111.

Crane accidents in Europe have been reduced since the revised EN 13000 European standard for mobile cranes came into force in May 2010

EN 13000 crane accident reduction

Written by Alex Dahm - 25 Aug 2015




Leading organizations in the European crane industry believe that a whole category of crane accidents in Europe have been reduced since the revised EN 13000 European standard for mobile cranes came into force in May 2010.

The EN 13000:2010 standard (since updated to EN 13000:2010+A1:2014) included the requirement that the override switch be located outside the operator’s cab to discourage the use of the override function by the operator.

Initially, this was opposed both by manufacturers and crane owners who argued that it reduces the ability of the operator to have full control of the crane in an emergency situation which could result in a serious accident, including loss of life.

European experts have now said that the amended standard appears to have resulted in significant improvements in safety on jobsites. The issue will be discussed at the next meeting of the International Crane Stakeholders Assembly in Perth, Australia, in September.

Evidence of the impact on safety has come from both ESTA – the European association of abnormal road transport and mobile cranes – and FEM, (Fédération Européenne de la Manutention - the European materials handling federation). Both organisations have been jointly asking their members for feedback about the effect of the change.

“The new regulation has been in operation for five years and a large number of cranes have been delivered with the new set up of the rated capacity limiters,” explained Klaus Meissner, president of FEM’s Mobile Crane Product Group and director, product strategy, at Terex Cranes.

“Overriding the rated capacity limiter is not the cause of an accident. The decision to operate beyond a crane’s rated capacity would be the cause of an accident. The override switch may be seen as the “enabler” for this incorrect crane use.”

Meissner added, “In Europe there have been no accidents reported on cranes delivered after May 2010 related to operating outside of the permitted capacities. Moreover, we have had zero complaints from operators and no reports of situations where the new position of the override switch caused an issue.

“So as far as we can tell, with such cranes delivered after 2010, there is a whole category of accidents that we are simply no longer seeing.”

Søren Jansen, ESTA director, agreed and said that the safety impact of EN 13000 went beyond the behaviour of the operator and appeared to be affecting how jobs are carried out.

“Not only have certain types of accidents been reduced but, from our feedback, it seems that crane owners are making doubly sure that they are sending out the right size crane for a particular job and that they are spending more time planning the jobs before they go out on a contract,” Jansen added.

He continued, “In the past, too many cranes were deliberately overloaded, sometimes to ‘help’ the customer, because the operator did not trust the LMI, or simply because he believed that he had a crane much stronger than it appeared in the lifting chart.

“But in today’s market, after an accident, most insurance companies request a print-out from the event recorder or data logger, and more and more crane manufacturers are also requesting print-outs from the data logger, when warranty claims are submitted.

“Crane owners are not ‘helping’ their customers when overloading a crane. After an accident no customer will come to the rescue of the unfortunate crane owner or operator.”

Jansen added, “Clearly, it is not for ESTA to say what is best for others. All we can do, and should do, is to tell colleagues in the industry of our experience of the EN 13000 changes.

“And so far, for us in Europe, that experience has been entirely positive.”

65-year-old man killed in motorcycle collision with deer in Tully, NY

  By Jacob Pucci | jpucci@syracuse.com
  August 26, 2015 
TULLY, N.Y. 

A 65-year-old Marietta man was killed Tuesday night when he was thrown from his motorcycle after hitting two deer.

Milton E. Johnson Jr. was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash on Route 80, between Long and Gatehouse roads, state police said.

Johnson was heading west on Route 80 shortly after 8 p.m. when he collided with both deer and was thrown from his 1993 Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

In addition to state police, Tully Ambulance and the Tully Fire Department responded to the scene.

Route 80 was closed in both directions between Long and Gatehouse roads for several hours following the crash, but has since been reopened.

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TULLY, N.Y. -- 

A motorcyclist was involved in a fatal crash with a deer Tuesday night on Route 80 in the town of Tully, according to news reports.

Onondaga County 911 said the crash was reported by a passerby around 8:06 p.m. between Long and Gatehouse roads.

State police as well as Tully Ambulance and the Tully Fire Department responded to the scene. 911 said no one was transported from the scene. The crash shut down both lanes of Route 80 in that area.