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Four killed as huge crane collapses at Houston refinery
(Houston Chronicle (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jul. 18--Four workers were killed and six were injured this afternoon when a huge industrial crane collapsed at the LyondellBasell refinery in southeast Houston, a company official said.
The call for help at the refinery, at 12000 Lawndale near Allen Genoa, came at about 1:30 p.m.
Three workers were taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center and three others were treated at the refinery, said Jim Roecker, vice president of Houston division refining.
All of the workers who were killed or injured were contract employees, Roecker said.
He said all of the plant's estimated 1,600 workers, including contract employees, have been accounted for. The accident will not impede the continuation of refinery operations, Roecker said.
The reason for the collapse has not been determined. Its exact dimensions were not immediately available, but the Associated Press quoted Roecker as saying it was the nation's largest mobile crane.
It was brought in to remove large drums from inside a coking unit whose roof had been cut off to allow the crane access, Roecker told the AP.
The crane struck a smaller, nearby crane as it fell. A tent sheltering a picnic table also was nearby, but authorities said they didn't know whether the cranes came down on the tent or whether anyone was inside.
Roecker said the crane, operated by a contractor called Deep South Crane & Rigging Co., had been put in place for a major project called a "turnaround," but that he did not believe it was scheduled to lift any equipment today.
He said he had seen it lift an 800,000-pound load during a recent test, and that it was scheduled to make a lift of about 1 million pounds later this month, he said.
The company has notified the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which will investigate the accident, Roecker said.
LyondellBasell officials said the Houston refinery is one of the largest in the United States that process high-sulfur crude oil.
The plant has a capacity of 268,000 barrels per day, transforming crude oil into gasoline and ultralow-sulfur diesel, as well as jet fuel, aeromatics, lubricants and petroleum coke, according to a company statement.
Roecker said more contract workers than usual have been on the site recently because the refinery is preparing for a major turnaround.
A turnaround involves shutting down pieces of equipment for maintenance or repair, and then bringing them back into operation.
LyondellBassell Industries announced recently that it was about to start a full-scale turnaround of the crude distillation unit and a coker at its Houston refinery.
A company spokesman said then that the maintenance work could last about seven weeks on the two units.
Roecker said human resources employees have been made available at the refinery for any family members who want to come there to ask about their relatives.
One who went to the plant after hearing of the accident was Miguel Garcia, who said he was driving to his job in Galveston when he heard about it, turned around and went to the refinery to inquire about his son, Jesus.
Garcia said his 21-year-old son began working at LyondellBasell about two months ago, doing scaffolding work.
"I keep calling his cell phone, but he doesn't answer," the father said as he stood at the plant entrance.
About an hour later, he emerged from the plant and said he had talked with an official who confirmed that his son was not hurt.
"I feel better. I feel good," Garcia said. "I just feel sorry for the people who got hurt and the people who got killed, and their families."
An employee of Deep South, Horace Graham, came to the refinery with his wife, Mattie, to check on co-workers. He was not on the job at the time of the accident and said he had been calling his friends' cell phones, but not getting an answer.
"I just want to get close to find out if they're OK," Graham said.
His wife fought back tears, saying she was thinking about the victims and the fact that the accident could have happened while her husband was on the job.
In a prepared statement, officials with Deep South said: "We are taking every measure to ensure that the injured employees receive the best possible medical attention. Our thoughts and prayers are with our employees and their loved ones.
"At this point, we have few details on what actually happened and we are trying to gather information. We will use this information to conduct an investigation to determine the root cause, correct it and ensure that this type of tragedy does not occur again," Deep South officials said. "We will cooperate fully with all investigations that may arise from this tragic incident.
"We will provide information as we gather and verify it," the statement concluded. "In the meantime, we ask for your prayers and patience in this difficult time."
Deep South has reported one workplace death in recent years, according to OSHA. On Feb. 2, 2007, a crane carrying a load of heavy materials slipped and crushed ironworker Donald W. Price of Houston, who died several days later.
OSHA inspectors found three violations, two classified as serious, and proposed a penalty of $9,000, according to OSHA's Web site.
Price's widow filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Deep South, which is scheduled to go to trial in Harris County next year. The lawsuit claims that an employee operating the crane "was not properly trained on the crane's computerized system."
The lawsuit seeks $3.5 million dollars from Deep South, which it accuses of "gross negligence" and "indifference to the rights, welfare and safety of others."
Deep South has denied responsibility for Price's death, according to court documents, and argued that the company could not anticipate the accident and that it resulted from Price's own negligence.
LyondellBasell officials reported that the refinery recorded 1 million hours worked without a lost-day injury in 2007. Before today's accident, they said, contractors at the refinery had worked 2.5 million hours without a lost-time injury.
The city of Houston does not inspect or regulate cranes, although officials said there has been some talk of it since the recent New York City crane collapses.
"It's not a part of our code of ordinances," said Alvin Wright, spokesman for the Public Works & Engineering Department. "A crane is a movable object. We inspect structures that are non-movable, like buildings."
On March 15, six construction workers and a woman in town for St. Patrick's Day were killed in Manhattan when a crane broke away from an apartment tower under construction and toppled onto buildings as far as a block away.
On May 30, a 200-foot crane at a condo project in Manhattan smashed into another apartment building and then fell to the street, killing the operator and another construction worker.
City Councilman Peter Brown said crane regulation is overdue, especially in a city experiencing unprecedented construction.
"It's a public safety issue, and we're too lax," Brown said.
Coming just days after two boys died in the collapse of an apartment complex stairwell in southwest Houston, the crane accident reveals " a recurrent pattern" in Houston, Brown said.
"The city has been lax in setting proper standards for safety and performance," Brown said. "As we grow, we have to raise our standards. And we're not doing it."
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Copyright (c) 2008, Houston Chronicle
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