Last week’s tragic death of a contractor at the CITGO Lake Charles Manufacturing Complex in Sulphur. Louisiana, was apparently the result of a forklift accident.
CITCO Forklift Accident Victim Identified
“On March 9, at the Lake Charles refinery, a contractor driving a forklift struck another contract employee, which resulted in a fatality,” CITGO said in a statement issued last Thursday.
The Calcasieu Parish Coroner’s Office has since identified the deceased as a 56-year-old man from Vinton, Louisiana. He was an employee of Turner Industries, a Louisiana-based company that performs refinery maintenance.
Authorities have yet to release any other details of the accident, nor have they commented on the nature of the victim’s injuries.
More than 80 Fatal Forklift Accidents Annually
According to OSHA, the United States experiences an average of 85 fatal forklift accidents every year. An additional 34,900 accidents result in serious injury and 61,800 cause non-serious injuries.
The majority of deaths – 42% – involve vehicle tip-overs, while a quarter involve a worker being crushed between the forklift and another object. The remaining fatalities occur when workers are crushed between the forklift and another vehicle; are struck or run over by a forklift; are struck by objects falling from the forklift; or fall from the forklift platform themselves.
Most forklift-related deaths – 42.5% — occur in manufacturing and nearly 24% occur in construction. Wholesale trades, transportation, retail, and mining account for the remaining fatalities.
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