Man falls into concrete mixer, dies

2011-02-23 13:35

Cape Town - A Western Cape man died when he fell into an industrial concrete mixer on Wednesday morning, paramedics said.

Two men were cleaning the machine at a concrete lintel factory near Vissershoek when the machine suddenly switched on, causing them to fall into it, ER24 spokesperson Andre Visser said.

The men called for help, but by the time they were pulled from the machine they had already sustained serious injuries, he said.

One man died on the scene and the other was airlifted to hospital with "severe injuries to his lower extremities", Visser said.

Authorities were to investigate the industrial accident further.

Comments

• Melly30 - 2011-02-23 13:51

  Suddenly switch on?? Does not make sense - keep feeding us crap News24

  lmduplessis - 2011-02-23 13:56

  Could be because of faulty electrical wiring. Short circuit somewhere. Or someone didn't like either or both these men, and decided to help matters along.

  Mikemcc - 2011-02-23 14:19

  Unfortunately it is every individual's responsibilty to ensure isolation of energy sources before commencing work. The employer is also going to have to answer some tough questions as to whether they were trained properly with regards to work place safety. Tragically avoidable.

  Felix - 2011-02-23 14:37

  What about the headline? Could have sworn a robot wrote that...

• Shisstirrer QBE - 2011-02-23 14:16

  They should've had a lock out system in place then this would not have happened , I hope the owner of the company has a good lawyer .

  Melly30 - 2011-02-23 14:44

  When do these employee's ever listen, they always know best and ignore all the health and safety rules and regulations!!!!

• Faansie - 2011-02-23 14:48

  Tragic

• liezelb - 2011-02-23 14:54

  eish - Darwinism. Condolences to the family of the deceased and get-well-soon to the injured.

• 24newsreader - 2011-02-23 15:47

  always stirred never shaken

• JuluisMalema - 2011-02-23 15:55

  There is a lot of people who doesn't believe this story. But you have to believe it, we have concrete evidence.

• Bill Xhosa - 2011-02-23 16:49

  In developed countries there are procedures to prevent this type of accident. Essentially the worker locks the electrical panel so the machine cannot be accidentally turned on. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockout-Tagout But maybe this is a western culture thing that you don't want to adopt. After all life is cheap and finding replacement workers is so easy. Condolences to the family. Training and procedures would have probably saved them.

  Shisstirrer QBE - 2011-02-23 17:52

  These procedures have been here for ever , its the owners who are to blame , they blame financial constraints . Another point is that it would be unfair to call the workers negligent if they have'nt been trained , yet again the onus falls on the owners .

  Mikemcc - 2011-02-24 08:11

  @Shisstirrer QBE, the onus for personal safety falls on the individual. The employer has to prove that the systems were available and that the training was provided to the employees.

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