Explosion At Pet Food Plant Burns Three Workers
An explosion at the Diamond Pet Food facility in Lathrop, California burned three employees on Sunday morning.
Their injuries were serious enough that the employees were flown to the University of California, Davis, Regional Burn Center.
Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Gene Neely said the employees were welding in the tower of the pet food facility. The incident is still being investigated.
Neely said: “We believe that the welding operations in connection with the dust from the dog food caused the explosion in the tower.”
Safety checks by fire crews were conducted on Monday morning.
Diamond Pet Food officials did not return any phone calls for comments.
Source: Tri Valley Herald
(Thanks menusux)
September 26th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
No candle-lit dinners for my guys!
September 26th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Maybe they should be tested for toxins since they were taken to UCDavis. (TIC)
Seriously though, I hope these workers fully recover from any injuries they sustained. I will be praying for them.
September 26th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
I hope for a speedy, full recovery for the injured plant workers.
I also would suggest testing for toxic chemicals, wastes, fumes, etc. in and around the ingredients and inside the plant. With all of the hazardous substances found in pet food in general, not picking on Diamond here, it’s worth it for eveyone’s safety.
September 26th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
My thoughts and prayers are with the families for a speedy recovery.
Makes me wonder, what on earth could be in the dust to make it voltile and explode. And this is in our pet Food!! Scary…..
September 26th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Diamond probably added a little TNT for that special get-up & go for our pets……….somehow it doesn’t surprise me that dust from pet food would explode…….all the friggin chemicals in it these days.
Shibadiva: Love your comment. Guess we have to don our hazmat suits to serve up the pet food & be sure we don’t have any open flames nearby……
September 26th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
Sorry for the workers.
Wonder if the cause was melamine in combination with an antagonistic substance.
Now if there’s a smart lawyer out there, he’ll offer the burned workers his services. Who knows, if they detect the presence of toxic substances as the cause of the fire, this could mean that all workers in these plants are going to be really angry and will want to be assured that their employers are not using hazardous substances. The offshoot of this is that it might afford some protection to our pets.
So, as horrible as this sounds [and I do feel badly for the people injured] this could potentially be a good thing for our pets.
September 26th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
Apparently this is not uncommon for grain storage facilities. Lots of links on the internet.
http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/pr_hi.....osions.pdf
September 26th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
justMe - thanks for the links. interesting info about grain basically spontaneously combusting. Hope all the injured recover fully.
September 26th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
JustMe is right on target. The same thing that makes it possible to get fuel from grain (biodesiel) is what sometimes makes grain explode.
This used to be very common in grain silos. All it takes is a spark, a little lightning bolt hitting the silo and you’ve got a big explosion.
September 26th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
What is up with that company??
I hope the employees are ok.
Sandi
September 26th, 2007 at 8:40 pm
So pet food isn’t just good for making plastics, it’s also a potential biodiesel source.
Agree that there’s something wrong with Diamond’s safety procedures.
Pukanuba: Reason I’m concerned is that it’s the Big Dog’s 10th birthday this weekend. I guess we can have candles since it’s a home-cooked meal. And party hats. ;o)
September 26th, 2007 at 8:58 pm
Shibadiva: It the grain that goes into the food that’s combustible.
Give your Big Dog a big Happy Birthday hug from me and the kitties. Careful with those candles, I did that with my cats and we almost had explosive kitty tails!!
September 26th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
2CatMom: Big Dog’s 9th was a great affair but sadly required some Pepcid for a few days after. Mom is much smarter about table scraps now. And planning the menu should be easy after all this practice with home-cooking.
And being grain-free since the spring, the only combustibles around here are the dust-bunnies.
September 26th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
Happy 10th birthday to your doggie, shibadiva. If we were closer, I’d send my dog over with a present…..but she’d eat you out of house & home. Probably eat the dust bunnies, too. Gotta watch those Labs……
I can remember years ago when I had a horse, I heard stories around the barn about hay & how combustible it is. That was a new one on me. Being a city girl, I don’t know all that good stuff…..didn’t know about grain either.
September 27th, 2007 at 8:05 am
shibadiva: Happy Birthday to your fur-baby. Hope it’s a good one.
September 27th, 2007 at 9:10 am
I hope OSHA shuts them down.
August 31st, 2011 at 5:24 pm
jewelry box
Itchmo: News For Dogs & Cats » Blog Archive » Explosion At Pet Food Plant Burns Three Workers
September 26th, 2011 at 11:58 pm
wooden jewelry box
[…]Itchmo: News For Dogs & Cats » Blog Archive » Explosion At Pet Food Plant Burns Three Workers[…]
October 15th, 2011 at 9:01 pm
jewelry box
[…]Itchmo: News For Dogs & Cats » Blog Archive » Explosion At Pet Food Plant Burns Three Workers[…]
December 16th, 2011 at 7:58 pm
[…] #split {}#single {}#splitalign {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;}#singlealign {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;}#splittitlebox {text-align: center;}#singletitlebox {text-align: center;}.linkboxtext {line-height: 1.4em;}.linkboxcontainer {padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px;background-color:#eeeeee;border-color:#000000;border-width:0px; border-style:solid;}.linkboxdisplay {padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px;}.linkboxdisplay td {text-align: center;}.linkboxdisplay a:link {text-decoration: none;}.linkboxdisplay a:hover {text-decoration: underline;} function opensingledropdown() { document.getElementById(’singletablelinks’).style.display = ”; document.getElementById(’singlemouse’).style.display = ‘none’; } function closesingledropdown() { document.getElementById(’singletablelinks’).style.display = ‘none’; document.getElementById(’singlemouse’).style.display = ”; } Exercise and Dogs: Making it Funcarlyforcalifornia.comThe Cribline’s Dog Blog: A New Dog Park On Capitol HillFind out a lot more about stomach discomfortRehabilitation Therapy for DogsTake Your Dog Swimming!Itchmo: News For Dogs & Cats […]
December 20th, 2011 at 1:25 am
appraisal
[…]Itchmo: News For Dogs & Cats » Blog Archive » Explosion At Pet Food Plant Burns Three Workers[…]