Death of Electric Boat worker blamed on the deceased employee

The article cut and pasted below is from The Day of New London, CT. The story is about an employee of General Dynamic's Electric Boat shipyard in Quonset Point, RI who was killed when he "pressed the wrong button on a hangar door, closing it when he had meant to open it.".

Bull.

I have no idea what did or did not occur but having a situation where an employee can get caught and crushed by an automatic door screams lack of error proofing to me. Hell, ordinary garage doors won't close if a broomstick is blocking the electric eye - how in the hell did THIS happen?!?!

Here's the original story, below. The link will only work for 7 days from today:

EB worker died after pushing wrong button

By Jennifer Grogan Published on 7/9/2009

North Kingstown, R.I. - The Electric Boat employee who died in an accident at the company's Quonset Point manufacturing plant earlier this month pressed the wrong button on a hangar door, closing it when he had meant to open it.

Ritchie A. Morse, a 31-year-old North Kingstown resident, had worked at Electric Boat for 10 years.

North Kingstown police and fire personnel were called to the plant around 7:30 a.m. on July 1.

According to police, Morse was moving a section of steel outside using a large transport device with a cab on either end. Morse, who was in the front cab, went to the rear cab when it started raining to move the section back inside the main building where the submarine modules are assembled.

About 20 feet of the transporter remained outside the hangar doors, with about a foot of clearance between the door and the vehicle.

Morse realized he forgot his hard hat in the transporter's front cab so he exited the machinery and tried to squeeze through the small space between the door and the transporter, the police report said. Unable to fit, Morse hit the button on the door, intending to open it, but instead hit the button to close it, witnesses told police.

The door jerked closed, the report said, crushing Morse's head between the door and the transporter.

He was taken to Kent County Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is still investigating.

j.grogan@theday.com

As I said earlier, I have no idea what happened, but I find it very hard to believe that this death wasn't preventable. I know a great many EB employees (here in CT). They're all good people and EB has been great to the community, but blaming the worker for this just doesn't sit well with me.

Governor Rell Announces Training to Boost Green-Collar Workforce

Governor M. Jodi Rell today announced that three companies will participate in a new program that will serve as a blueprint for training the state’s growing “green-collar” work force, an initiative intended to help develop new jobs in an expanding segment of the state’s economy.

Governor Rell has identified green-collar jobs – positions in emerging industries such as energy efficiency, alternative energy development and production and other environmentally friendly fields – as a likely source of new employment for Connecticut. CONNSTEP, the state’s leading resource for Lean and Clean manufacturing procedures, business growth services and quality management systems, has developed a two-day interactive training event that helps companies become more sustainable by prioritizing and implementing “green” initiatives.

Web Industries of Dayville, Uretek of New Haven, and Cooper-Atkins Corp. of Middlefield are the first three companies to sign up for the green-collar training.

“It makes sense to encourage and develop the ‘green-collar’ industry in Connecticut, since our state has long been a leader on issues such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and developing energy efficiency programs – and that is especially true as this recession drags on,” Governor Rell said. “Combining lean manufacturing with ‘green’ techniques is becoming the foremost method to cut costs, increase productivity, grow and retain jobs, implement sustainable practices and make a company and their products more appealing to the increasingly environmentally conscious marketplace.

“Sustainable business practices – “thinking green” – requires a change in a company’s focus and business culture,” the Governor said. “This CONNSTEP program is designed to raise workers’ awareness of the importance of becoming more environmentally focused, educate people at all levels within the organization to ask pointed questions and make business decisions based on sustainable criteria.”

The Department of Labor is providing funding to offset half of the cost of the training for up to six small- to mid-size manufacturers that are trying to improve profitability and global competitiveness while minimizing their environmental impact. Companies participating in the training will improve the modern manufacturing skills of their workers through a better understanding of lean and environmentally prudent methodologies.

Employees at Web Industries make materials used in medical, consumer and data communications products. Uretek’s workers manufacture coated fabrics and composites for defense, aerospace, health care and recreational use. Cooper-Atkins employees make instruments to measure temperature in the health care, foodservice and heating, ventilation and air conditioning industries.

CONNSTEP was founded in 1994 and has been co-sponsored by the state Department of Economic and Community Development and the U.S. Department of Commerce through the national Manufacturing Extension Partnership program of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. CONNSTEP helps small- and mid-size companies coordinate broader manufacturing initiatives, track impacts of services provided and form long-term strategies on behalf of client companies.

For more information about this program, visit CONNSTEP.org.

Treats for Troops closing down

After six years of supporting our men & women in uniform, the not-for-profit organization Treats For Troops is shutting down, a victim of the recession. Everything is now 20% off until their final day, June 21st.

I have used Treats For Troops many times and have always received a thank you letter from a soldier, sailor, Marine or airman. It is a simple way to make say thank you and it is greatly appreciated. Please support our troops by sending a care package to a member of our armed forces through their Foster-A-Soldier" program - it's the very least we can do.