Injured workers continue to recover after explosion
SCOTTDALE – One man injured in an industrial accident Monday at a local manufacturing plant has been released from the hospital while a second man, also incurring injuries, continues to improve, according to officials. While Summerill Tube Corp. representatives declined to identify the injured workers Tuesday, a spokeswoman said both men are recovering from the shrapnel wounds they received when a propane tank exploded at the Franklin Street plant.
As the two maintenance workers continue to recover, representatives from the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) are at the plant trying to determine the cause of the explosion.
Bob Szymanski, OSHA area director, said that the investigation has only revealed that it was a propane tank, not an acetylene tank as earlier identified, that exploded.
“It was a propane tank or multiple propane tanks (that exploded),” said Szymanski. “I don’t know what ignited the tanks (or) what caused them to be spewing the gas or leaking.”
Summerill manufactures specialty welded and seamless cold drawn stainless, nickel and precipitation hardening tubing for various markets including aerospace, military and naval nuclear propulsion, according to ThomasNet, an industrial supplier product Web site.
James Schroyer, plant manager, could not be reached Tuesday for comment.
Propane, said Szymanski, requires a flammable source, to cause an explosion.
“All you need for an (ignition) is a spark or an arc,” he said. “(The ignition) could be from the motor of a car, a cigarette or a sparking tool – such as one from a hammer striking against something; metal striking against metal or an electrical device.
“It could be many, many things.”
According to John Chain, assistant chief of the Scottdale Volunteer Fire Co., the company stores several types of gases used in the manufacturing process in a building outside a maintenance garage.
When the metal tank exploded, shrapnel pierced nearby tanks, created a one-foot hole into the adjacent garage and punctured nearby parked cars, in addition to causing leg injuries to the two workers.
A third plant worker immediately extinguished a fire that erupted following the explosion, said Chain on Monday.
“We could have had more explosions and more fires,” said Chain. “The employee did a good job.”
The investigation, said Szymanski, attempts to determine the cause of the accident through interviews and site review, how such an incident can be prevented in the future and if the company has violated any regulations.
OSHA statutes permit the department six months to conduct an investigation and to levy violations, if warranted.
“Our investigations never take that long,” said Szymanski. “The more complicated the event, however, the longer it takes to sift through things to determine all the facts.”
Szymanski speculated that the investigation would take weeks, rather than months.
Work at the plant did resume after the explosion.