Minnesota residents should always be able to trust in the safety of their work environment. This is part of why laws and regulations are in place to govern and enforce safety in the workplace. However, sometimes, a work-related accident may happen that actually initiated at another place of business. This can complicate situations quickly.
An example of this is seen in the recent explosion of a cast-iron boiler unit said to weigh at least one ton in St. Louis. The event actually resulted in people not just at the location of the boiler being involved but people at another business located across the street nearly 500 feet away as well. Upon exploding, pieces of the boiler unit were launched and landed at a second business location and even caused damage to a third building. At the second building, two people were killed. A third person who worked at the company where the boiler was located also died. In addition to the three people who died, another four were injured and two of those were listed as being in critical condition.
The company where the boiler was located is said to have had multiple prior safety violations on records, some of which were listed as serious. The Occupational Safety Health Administration will be investigating this latest incident including the company’s records regarding maintaining and inspecting the boiler.
Employees who are injured in work-related accidents may want to reach out to an attorney to learn about how they might get help after such experiences.
Source: Star Tribune, “Fire chief: 3 dead, 4 hurt when boiler explodes in St. Louis,” Jim Suhr, April 3, 2017
