The California Department of Industrial Relations’ Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) today launched a statewide Confined Space Special Emphasis Initiative to focus attention on preventing worker deaths and injuries in confined spaces in worksites across the state. As part of this initiative, Cal/OSHA issued a Confined Space Hazard Alert to help employers and employees identify confined space situations and take immediate steps to protect workers. “Employers in California are responsible for identifying and mitigating risks in the workplace,” said...

PORTLAND — A 1972 Yamhill-Carlton High School graduate, brother of retired local law enforcement official Ken Summers, died Sunday when he fell into a massive barge tank partially filled with a corrosive and toxic agricultural chemical called lignin amine. He was identified as John Michael Summers, 57, of Centralia, Wash., who went by Mike. He fell into a half-filled 20-foot-deep tank about 40 feet wide and 50 feet long on a barge moored at Swan Island. “He was working for a company that services barges,” said retired Yamhill County Sheriff’s Capt. Ken Summers. “He was sent to Swan...

Last week Code Red Safety traveled to SW Houston to train a customer’s workers on confined space rescue.  Included in the training was rope techniques, mechanical rescue devices and training on confined spaces and how to deal with them in general. Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tweet about it Subscribe to the comments on this post

The Chester First Aid squad had another busy year in 2011 and plan to add programs and equipment to ensure they are ready for whatever 2012 has to throw at them. The squad’s team of volunteers, on call around the clock, responded to a record 845 calls within Chester Bourough and Chester Township. In addition, the squad responded to 21 mutual aid calls in surrounding towns.   CFAS EMTs responded to diverse emergencies, including traumatic injuries, medical emergencies, and fire-related emergencies servicing both patients and emergency fire personnel.  For some emergency calls, CFAS...

When a call went out Thursday morning for a man trapped in a trench, an elite team of highly trained firefighters put their lives on the line to trench rescue the construction worker. The group of specialized firefighters is critical to a successful rescue operation. Urban Search and Rescue firefighters go through special training for these types of emergencies. Although every call is different, crews say each one has the same rule. The rescue must be slow and steady. Michael Aguilar was trapped 16 feet below ground with a broken leg and lying on his back. Aguilar looked up at one of the...

Firefighters rescued a pit bull puppy Sunday night from a sink hole from a collapsed septic tank in Calimesa using confined space rescue techmiques, Cal Fire officials said. The trapped dog was reported at 8:18 p.m. Sunday in the 200 block of Myrtlewood Drive, south of Avenue L in Calimesa, Melody Hendrickson of Cal Fire-Riverside County said in a statement.  Four engine crews with 18 firefighters responded, Hendrickson said. The puppy was trapped 15 to 20 feet down in a confined space, and the technical rescue was declared complete at 10:12 p.m., Hendrickson said. No injuries were...