Fire investigators rule Boulder City explosion an ‘industrial accident’
By Elaine Emerson
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LAS VEGAS, Nevada (KVVU) — Fire investigators ruled a July explosion at a Boulder City business an “industrial accident,” Clark County Fire Department said Thursday.
The July 11 explosion happened at polymer concreate business Armorock in Boulder City. The explosion injured six people, leaving two hospitalized.
CCFD Deputy Chief Warren Whitney said that the explosion occurred in one of the hoppers but couldn’t pinpoint what caused the explosion. Whitney said there were three possibilities that they could not rule out:
Static electricity from the flow and movement of materials An arc caused by grinding of mixing machines An electrical failure by one of the machines in the immediate area
rmorock has been the subject of investigation before.
According to a press release by the US Department of Labor, in January, a worker in Texas suffered serious internal injuries because Armorock ignored machine safety procedures. OSHA wants the company to pay $400,000 in fines after he was struck by a large mold. OSHA found that the company had failed to install machine guards that would have prevented the accident. Federal investigators allege that a similar incident had occurred on the same platform less than a year earlier.
At the Boulder City location, the company was cited for a 2019 incident when an employee’s thumb was severed.
Armorock released this statement in the immediate aftermath of the explosion:
We are saddened by the incident that took place today. Safety is our number one priority as a company, and we pray for the speedy and full recovery of our employee still in the hospital. We care about the welfare of our team members, and do not know exactly what occurred at this time. We are fully cooperating with OSHA and all investigative teams to get to the bottom of this… violations from our Texas facility have been addressed and corrected.
– Armorock LLC
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