Special Edition: One Reported Dead at Schuylkill Plant – MSHA District 2 Pennsylvania

Update: One killed, one injured at Schuylkill plant

LARRY NEFF/SPECIAL TO THE TIMES NEWS
Published June 11. 2020 04:37PM
One man was killed and another seriously injured while dismantling equipment at a former power plant in Schuylkill County on Thursday.

The two men were reportedly caught in the collapse of a large conveyor belt at the Northeast Power Station, located in Kline Township.

The Mine Safety & Health Administration was on scene investigating what caused the collapse.

According to the McAdoo Fire Department, the men were dismantling the conveyor belt using a cherry picker extended more than 80 feet in the air.

The conveyor belt collapsed, and took the cherry picker with it.

The Schuylkill County coroner’s office pronounced one man dead at the scene. The man’s identity was being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

The other man was treated by ambulance crews and transported by medical helicopter to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest Campus in critical condition.

The two men were part of a crew from Tennessee who were dismantling equipment at the site. None of the other four workers on site were injured.

McAdoo Fire Chief Bob Leshko said his department was dispatched around 1 p.m.

He said the department had to take precautions when reaching the victims because it appeared that what was left of the conveyor belt was still unstable.

Leshko said the collapse was so forceful that it caused the metal supports for the conveyor belt to be ripped from the ground.

The power station, which operated on waste coal, closed in 2018. The crew was in the process of dismantling equipment.

The energy company who owns the facility, Luminant, released the following statement:

Luminant is devastated to hear about the death of a contractor on location at our retired Northeastern Power Company (NEPCO) plant in McAdoo, Pennsylvania, where decommissioning activities are taking place. Our company was notified of the situation this afternoon. The federal workplace safety health agencies have been contacted, and an investigation into the cause of the incident is underway.”

Click here for source.

Thanks for the share, JH.