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Three workers were killed on Wednesday after they were exposed to poisonous hydrogen sulfide gas near Trinity, Texas in the Kanalwerkstat in Westwood Shores. Hydrogen sulfide, which is generated by the disintegration of the organic substance, is a well -known dangers for wastewater ducts, wastewater treatment plants, food processing plants, ranches and landfills as well as in certain industrial processes.
Two of the victims' John Nelson Sr., 52, from Cleveland, and Bradley Wrightsman, 46, from Katy, specialized in H2O Innovation, a multinational multinational resident in Canada. The third, Brad Hutton, 47, worked for hydroclear services that operates sewage trucks. All three men, residents of the Houston region, were in the bloom of their working life.
Both companies worked under contract for the work, which was operated by the Westwood Shores Municipal Utility District.
According to the Trinity County Sheriff, the men initially worked over the earth and repaired an engine at a elevator station in the sewage complex. Lash stations are used to pump waste water or waste water from lower to higher locations.
When the waste water started in the area, one of the men climbed into a nearby man hole to try to fix the problem, but did not return. The other two tried a heroic rescue, and all three were apparently overcome by the deadly hydrogen sulfide gas. Her bodies were later recovered by the Montgomery County Emergency Service District (ESD) 1 and sent to the autopsy. The professional security and health administration (Osha) was informed about the incident.
The President and CEO of H2O Innovation, Frédéric Dugré, made a superficial explanation in which the incident described a “tragic accident at work”, and said that the company “was working to determine what led to the deaths and worked closely with the office of the sheriff of the Trinity County and other local officials”. He added that the company would “publish more information if it is available and how to be permitted by families and law enforcement.”
However, hydrogen sulfide poisoning is a well -documented danger at the workplace. One of the most basic safety measures in wastewater work is the use of fan systems in order to ventilate limited rooms and evacuate toxic gases. It is not known whether such equipment was used on Westwood Shores. Other safety precautions include personal and distant monitors to detect hydrogen sulfide and other dangerous gases such as methane, which is also explosive.
According to reports, at least one of the workers who saved his colleagues had a gas knife alarm, the sound, but it seems that not all men were equipped with such devices.
“We understand that the crew who did this work should not be underground or not equipped or not equipped or not equipped for this type of work,” said deputy boss Jeremy Carroll from the Sheriff office of the Trinity County.
Working in tight rooms is also a well -known industrial danger. The OSHA regulations require that an approval system, if such rooms may contain dangerous atmospheres, must be present. This includes regular air monitoring, strict control of the entry and an emergency plan for predictable dangers such as exposure to hydrogen sulfide. It is not known whether such a approval system was in force on Westwood Shores.
None of these questions were dealt with in the explanations issued by the company or by local officials.
A similar tragedy recently occurred on a farm in Colorado, on which six workers were killed by hydrogen sulfide exposure in an underground dung pit. Her death was one of the thousands that occur in the agricultural sector every year, where security at work is systematically neglected, so that “cost savings” can be converted into profit.
According to official figures, more than 5,200 workers in the USA are killed at work every year. The real tribute, including deaths from occupational diseases, is over 140,000 annually. At Clairton Coke Works, for example, two workers were killed and ten seriously injured in a predictable catastrophe, which is due to the result of deliberate neglect both by management and the unification of urgently needed repairs in the factory.
The study of the death of Ronald Adams Sr., a car shape crushed by a guarantee crane in Stellantis' Dundee engine system in Southeast Michigan, offers an important lesson for the termination of such deaths. Whatever about Adams' completely avoidable death or about the catastrophe at Clairton Coke Works update was uncovered by the initiative of rankings and not by companies, unions or government agencies.
We request all workers and everyone who knows the circumstances in connection with the deaths in the Westwood Shores channel work to turn to the sewage system World Socialist website By filling out the following form.