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WEST VALLEY CITY -- An industrial accident killed a 63-year-old worker at a chemical plant in West Valley City Friday morning.
Brody Chemical is the largest "ice melt" producer in the west, and it makes cleaning and chemical supplies. Fire officials say the man died at the scene after a large drum he was working with exploded. The top of the container exploded, and hit him in the face.
West Valley City Assistant Fire Chief Kris Romijn said, "It appears it was blunt force trauma related to a 55 gallon drum that he was dispensing out of. Apparently it's under pressure. Employees there tell us that normally the operating pressure is between 4 and 5 psi. Uncertain what caused the failure this morning. That will be up to OSHA to look into and discover what exactly occurred."
Romijn added, "Yeah, very sad. We called on our fire chaplains to be there for assistance for anybody that needed it, and they went over with the police department, the chaplain, to notify the family. So very tragic."
Michael Orgera a company vice president, said, "We're just grieving. We loved the guy, everybody loved the guy. We don't even know what happened."
He said fellow employees are devastated. "We're just grieving. We loved the guy, everybody loved the guy."
As for the cause of the accident, Orgera says the company doesn't know what caused it. He says the plant was shut down following the accident.
The man's name has not been released.
E-mail: jdaley@ksl.com
