Four Workers Injured in “Electrical Explosion” Accident in Fort Worth, TX
Fort Worth, TX -- January 9, 2023, four workers were injured due to an accident resulting in an explosion at Parkview Elementary.
Statements from authorities put the incident at around 10:00 a.m. in an unoccupied building on the Parkview Elementary campus. There was demolition work going on when an explosion occurred. The cause remains unclear, but details in the news described the incident as "some type of electrical explosion." Four workers had unspecified injuries due to the incident and continue recover. More thorough investigations will be necessary to bring the facts to light, and folks will likely assume OSHA has all that under control. I don't have any reason to doubt the abilities of OSHA investigators, but there are other potential issues that can stand between victims and families and getting back on their feet.
Primarily, one of the biggest drawbacks with OSHA investigations is how long it takes them to do their reports. They can take anywhere from 6 to 18 months to finish their reports, essentially leaving the victims in the wind until they're done or until those folks take it upon themselves to see there are more expedient independent investigations. Another potential challenge is that OSHA does not investigate accidents with the intent of getting people the help they need. Rather, their investigations prioritize finding mistakes for which to issue fines to companies. That's important to workplace safety, but it can leave victims and families empty handed in terms of specific information they need to tell their side of the story properly.
So while I certainly am not going to speculate about what went wrong here, I have enough experience with serious workplace incidents to know that sitting around waiting for the authorities to handle things isn't likely to be as prudent as folks may think.
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