Articles Posted in Work Related Burn Injuries

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In late December, the wife of an industrial worker who suffered fatal third degree burns when a steel ladle erupted and spewed molten steel on him, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her husband’s employer and the manufacturers of the ladle.

Roxanne Moyer, individually and on behalf of her deceased husband, Samuel N. Moyer, filed suit against Siemens Vai Services et als, Signal Metal Industries Inc., Danieli Corp., North American Refractories Co. and Black Diamond Capital Management on December 30, 2011 in federal court in New Orleans, LA.

The incident occurred on February 1, 2011 while Samuel Moyer was working as a furnace second helper in the ArcelorMittal Laplace steel manufacturing mill. During the course of his regular job duties, a steel ladle erupted and spewed molten steel, which came into contact with Moyer. Two days later, he died from third degree burns he suffered during the incident.

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In Maple Grove, Minnesota, a 15-year-old boy is spending a few days in a burn unit at Hennepin County Medical Center after a flash explosion in a science class that burned him and three other Maple Grove Junior High School students. The three others were treated and released, but the boy, Dane Neuberger, is still in the hospital suffering from second-degree burns on his face and neck.

Neuberger said he was simply taking notes in class when suddenly, and from seemingly out of nowhere, he was on fire. Neuberger was sitting in the front row of class when his teacher asked the ninth-graders to turn their desks toward a lab table while he conducted experiments. They were learning about the flammable substance methanol. But the flame that was supposed to stay in the bottle and consume the methanol did not do so, the container exploded.

The flame from the container came in contact with some spilled methanol that was left on a lab table, which caught fire. This is the fire that hit Neuberger in the face, neck and hand. It also caught his shirt, which he ripped off while the teacher rushed to help him.

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According to a recent article in the Bismarck Tribune in North Dakota, a lawsuit seeking compensation for pain, medical expense and loss of income was filed in Northwest District Court in Williston, ND against seven companies on behalf of three men who sustained second degree burns and third degree burns when an oil rig exploded in late July.

The workers, all from North Dakota, were bringing up drilling pipe on a rig for their employer, Cyclone Drilling Inc. when gas escaped the well, causing an explosion and fire. Andrew Rohr, 53, and Timothy Bergee, 53, were hospitalized for well over a month. The lawsuit says Rohr has burns over 60 percent of his body, also suffered septic shock and now has heart problems. Bergee has burns covering 80 percent of his body, and a compromised immune system has caused life-threatening pneumonia, the suit says. The third worker, Jeff Morton, 39, of Stark County, is being treated on an outpatient basis for significant burns to his arms, said their attorney, Robert Hilliard of Texas.

“These men have all been put through hell. Two of our clients have more than half of their bodies covered with burned flesh. The third has had his arms horribly burned,” Hilliard said. “The bottom line is that six different companies failed to protect human lives [in order] to turn a buck.”

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Two stories from Missouri in the past two weeks demonstrate just how much people still have to learn about safety on the job site. Carelessness almost resulted in people getting killed in these incidents.

First, in St. Louis, a construction worker was critically injured while working at a building that’s undergoing renovation–due to his own carelessness. A captain with the St. Louis Fire Department said that shortly after 9 a.m. on a Friday, a worker apparently used a blow torch to try and open a barrel marked “flammable”. Early reports were that the man suffered burns on more than 90 percent of his body. Such severe injures make it unlikely that the man will survive.

And in Olympian Village, Missouri, a few days later, a series of propane explosions rocked a busy part of town and terrified residents, though it appears that nobody was seriously inured–which is a miracle, given the size of the explosions. “There was a huge fireball. My guess is that it went about 300 feet into the air,” said one witness. “We heard the rumble from the first explosion, and then we felt the ground shake.”

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