CATAWBA NC Jan 23 2013 One man was killed and another suffered "minor irritation" Tuesday morning in an accident at the former AbitibiBowater plant, now called Resolute Forest Products, in Catawba.
Investigators believe that two workers climbed into a decommissioned tank outside the plant's main production area to perform maintenance at about 1:30 a.m., said Cotton Howell, director of York County Emergency Management. Officials speculate that while the workers were in the tank, some type of chemical might have leaked in, Howell said.
Samir Storey, 39, of Monroe, N.C., was pronounced dead at the scene, said York County Coroner Sabrina Gast. An autopsy is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
The other worker suffered "minor irritation" and was taken by EMS to Piedmont Medical Center, said Debbie Johnston, spokeswoman for Resolute Forest Products. A third contractor who was on the scene was examined by medical personnel but released soon after.
The plant, which has downsized its personnel and now employs more than 600 people, was fully operational Tuesday, and no evacuations were ordered after the accident, Howell said. No other injuries were reported.
York County Emergency Management, as well as the plant's own accident investigation team, will probe the incident, a process that Howell warned might slowly unfold.
"The investigation is still in its infancy," he said.
The three people working in the 10-feet wide, 40-feet tall tank in the plant's power generating area were contractors with Tradesmen International, a construction labor support company with offices in Charlotte. They were performing routine maintenance on the tank during a scheduled maintenance outage, Johnston said.
All three workers wore protective equipment and were properly trained on how to clean the tank, which Johnston said collects odorless chemical fumes from the mill's power generating area instead of releasing them into the atmosphere, she said. Those fumes are then burned in the mill's power boilers.
The tank is cleaned every nine months, Johnston said. She said officials were still trying to determine what kind of chemical might have been involved.
Storey's length of employment with Tradesmen International wasn't immediately available.
"We were working with a client on that job site," said Pete Barger, Tradesmen International's area manager. "It's a tragic situation; we're doing our best first and foremost to support his family from this point as we go through the investigation."
Barger said company officials will spend the next couple of days gathering more details. He wasn't able to give information on the injured worker, but he did say that "multiple" employees were working at the site in "that sector of the plant."
"The details at this point are very limited," he said. "This kind of situation again is tragic and incredibly uncommon for our company."
In May, a ruptured pipe sprayed sodium hydroxide, a cooking chemical dubbed "white liquor," on four employees in the plant's pulping area. The workers, all of whom suffered serious burns, were flown to hospitals and burn centers in North Carolina and Georgia for treatment.
The state Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigated the May chemical spill and determined that the plant didn't violate OSHA policies, said Lesia Kudelka, company communications director. No citations were issued.
OSHA officials, who have been notified on the incident, are considering if they will probe Tuesday's fatal accident, she said.
In June, a third-party contractor was injured when he was splashed in the face with white liquor while transferring the chemical from a tanker truck to a holding area. He was taken to an on-site shower and washed down before he was taken by ambulance to an area hospital.
In 2000, an explosion at the plant killed two contract welders who were connecting pipes to an outdoor tank when it exploded. Several other workers were also injured. That blast was reported as the worst accident in the plant’s then-40-year history. Source-charlotteobserver.com