Accident During Energy Plant Demolition Leaves Worker Dead

EagleFordTexas.com reported that a worker died after sustaining an injury while demolishing an old Alliant Energy power plant in Beloit, Wisconsin.

About the Worker’s Death

The 57-year-old man, whose name has not been released yet, was working on a beam when something came loose. As a result, the Beloit Fire Department found the man lying on the floor of a partly demolished building, with severe trauma to his abdomen. The man was transported to Janesville hospital, where he later passed away.

The Alliant Energy power plant is scheduled to be fully demolished by the end of the year.  Alliant Energy has said it will cooperate with any investigation that looks into the worker’s death.

Statistics About Construction Fatalities

According to the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), there are thousands of wrongful deaths of people killed in on the job accidents every year in the United States.

• In 2014 out of 4,251 worker fatalities in private industry, 20.5% of those fatalities were in construction.
• Additionally, the leading causes of worker deaths on construction sites were falls, electrocution, struck by object, and caught-in/between.  These causes are referred to as the “Fatal Four” in construction.
• OSHA also calculated that by eliminating deaths caused by the Fatal Four, 508 workers’ lives in America could be saved a year.