Catastrophic premises liability incident takes two lives

Just as homeowners and business owners have a responsibility to ensure the safety of all visitors to their property, New York employers are charged with accounting for the safety and well-being of workers at any job site. After all, many fields of work place employees within close proximity to hazardous materials and dangerous conditions. In the event that an accident occurs at a workplace, the employer and/or property owner may face serious premises liability accusations. Only time will tell what allegations, if any, property owners may face in a fatal plant failure incident that occurred recently.

Apparently, industries that handle the use and processing of grain do so under particularly hazardous conditions, since the buildup of dust from grain can cause explosions and fires at a facility. And as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration notes the risks of working with such materials, authorities are now investigating a fatal incident that occurred recently at a livestock feed processing plant in Omaha, Nebraska.

38 individuals were reportedly in the processing plant in the morning hours at the start of one workweek when the incident occurred. Despite the fact that authorities refused to identify what the exact incident was, they did claim that the plant failure was disastrous. Emergency responders on the scene were forced to remove several individuals from the building and free one accident victim who was reportedly trapped by debris.

Of the 10 victims that required medical treatment following the incident, six reportedly sustained noncritical injuries, while four others were admitted with life-threatening injuries. It was determined that two individuals died in the incident, even though one body had yet to be recovered. Hazardous weather conditions were affecting recovery efforts.

Source: cbsatlanta.com, “2 dead in Omaha industrial accident,” Jan. 20, 2014