Chemically Burned: Dow Chemical Tries to Avoid Hot Water in Worker's Death
By Dianna Wray Thursday, Jun 13 2013
His skin was on fire. Brian Johns couldn't feel exactly what was happening to him through the jolt of endorphins and adrenaline pumping through his body, but the acid was still there, sizzling through layer after layer of his skin, from the rich brown color that coated his huge muscles to the pink skin underneath it to the red sinew of muscle beneath.
The ambulance wailed through the dark of night, taking him from the Rohm and Haas plant in Deer Park to the emergency room of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, almost flying over more than 40 miles of road. Now they were rushing him down the hospital corridor, already looking over the damage, noting the second- and third-degree burns that covered more than half of Johns's large body after an explosion in an ammonia recycling unit at the plant.
They cut his work jumpsuit off him and began rinsing his body with hundreds of gallons of lukewarm water to wash away the chemicals. Dr. David Herndon, chief of staff of the Blocker Burn Unit since 1981, laid a slip of pH paper on Johns's skin. It turned red, indicating the presence of acid. Herndon told the nurses to keep rinsing.
Johns had been conscious and aware for most of the time since the explosion. He'd already called his mother, Frances Sowell. The phone jangled just before midnight, and she heard her youngest son's deep voice on the line.
"Mother, there's been an accident. Meet me at the hospital," he said. ...
Much more here: http://www.houstonpress.com/2013-06-13/news/chemical-burn-dow/
Mnemosyne
(21,363 posts)TBF
(32,084 posts)largest industrial accident to date, thousands of deaths both during and after the incident ... and company is still functioning under a new name:
Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) was a chemical company established in 1934, eventually expanding to employ 9,000 people working at 14 plants in five divisions.[1] UCIL was 51% owned by Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) and 49% by Indian investors including the Government of India. UCIL produced batteries, carbon products, welding equipment, plastics, industrial chemicals, pesticides, and marine products.
In 1970 UCIL built a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, which gained worldwide attention as a result of the Bhopal disaster. On December 3, 1984, a release of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas immediately killed thousands and lead to the death of thousands in subsequent weeks and months. At the time of the disaster UCIL was ranked twenty-first in size among companies operating in India. It had revenues of Rs 2 billion (then equivalent to US$170 million).
In November 1994, UCC completed the sale of its interest in UCIL to McLeod Russel Ltd. of Calcutta. UCIL was subsequently renamed Eveready Industries India Ltd.
Mnemosyne
(21,363 posts)approximately $12.00 US?! That cannot be right!
I hope that is wrong.
They can change names all they wish, they are still murderers.
PDJane
(10,103 posts)That has been the accusation leveled against TransCanada, too, in the Senate this week.
Judi Lynn
(160,598 posts)why didn't it happen to the people who want things to be this way?
Why not let the people who reap the profit from the hardship of others be the ones who eventually pay for it, anyway?
This story is horrendous, and it's not going to get better learning OSHA will be using FEWER people to enforce the feeble inspection laws it has now to keep these atrocities from happening to helpless, innocent, unprepared workers, thanks to GOP lawmakers and their corrupt Democratic lackeys who voted for this crap.
TBF
(32,084 posts)with it is to pay off the remaining family members and make them sign releases so they can't talk about it. For them it's just a fee now and then .. cost of doing business.