Wood pellet stoves and boilers are fast becoming a popular way to heat buildings of all kinds. Manufacturing facilities that produce wood pellet fuel make various types of wood pellet fuel and sell it to their customers in bulk or bag it in preparation for sale to consumers through a diverse selection of retail stores. Every workplace, including wood pellet manufacturing facilities, has an array of different injury and accident risks.
A long-time employee of a Mississippi wood pellet plant died in a workplace accident this month. Fifty-five-year-old Johnny Dale Bishop served faithfully as the maintenance manager for years before he died in an early morning accident on October 25. Bishop was working on a burner bin when he fell several feet to the ground. The Monroe County Coroner reports that Mr. Bishop died at the scene of the accident. OSHA and several other authorities are currently investigating the fatal accident.
Wood pellet manufacturing facilities can be dangerous places to work. Proper training and safe work habits can prevent workplace accidents, injuries, and fatalities. Some risks are inherent in the production of wood pellet fuel. One threat to workers at wood pellet plants is the amount of combustible material in their work environment. If a fire or explosion occurs in a pellet manufacturing plant, it can get out of control quickly because of the amount of available fuel. It took firefighters four hours to contain the fire that resulted from an explosion at a Connecticut pellet manufacturing facility in 2013.
The dust produced during the pellet manufacturing process creates a risk of fire and explosion. In 2013, a dust explosion at a New Zealand pellet factory injured an employee. In 2011, a hundred firefighters worked for fourteen hours to put out a fire that started in the dust conveyor system of a pellet plant in New Hampshire.
As evidenced by the aforementioned Mississippi pellet plant fatality, fire and explosion are not the only risks employees of wood pellet manufacturers face during their workday. Falls from equipment and machinery can cause injury or death. The machines used to make and package the pellets can cause crush injuries and other types of injuries or fatalities from employee contact with moving parts. The equipment used to load and move pellets can injure or kill workers.
Wood pellet manufacturing facilities can be dangerous places to work. Unfortunately, so can many other workplaces. A job-related injury can keep you out of work and out of a paycheck for a while as you work through the healing process. Medical bills can pile up if you have to miss work while you pursue the medical care that you need to heal and return for work. The process of filing a workplace injury claim can be daunting, but you don’t have to do it alone. If you were injured at work, call the Mississippi Workplace Accident Attorneys at Barrett Law PLLC at 1 (800) 707-9577 to learn more.