PEABODY — It was déjà vu at the Rousselot Factory on 5 Allens Lane when, for the second time in two months, a man was injured after falling approximately 25 feet from a ladder and landing in a storage tank.
The man, an employee of Rousselot, was rushed to Lahey Burlington with non-life-threatening injuries.
Peabody police were notified of the incident at 9:11 a.m. Tuesday. The Peabody Fire Department arrived on the scene shortly thereafter, and assisted with lifting the man over a five-foot wall surrounding the tank.
Dennis Bonaiuto of the Peabody Police Department said he didn’t believe the fall was as serious as the similar incident that occurred in October, in which the injured man had to be extricated from a silo using a crane and medflighted to the hospital.
“It couldn’t have been anything too significant because the injuries didn’t appear to be overly serious,” said Bonaiuto.
Following this second incident, The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the federal agency tasked with ensuring safe work conditions, has opened an inspection of the company.
Rousselot, the international collagen and gelatin manufacturer, purchased the Peabody factory in 2011. Prior to the Rousselot purchase, the factory was owned by Eastman Kodak.
Workers at the Rousselot plant boil down raw pig and cow remains to turn them into gelatin for pharmaceuticals, food and other uses.
The previous incident occurred Oct. 17 when a contractor with Jv Building Services was flown to Tufts Medical Center in Boston after falling approximately the same 25-foot distance into an empty silo.
OSHA opened an inspection into Jv Building Services following the incident. The inspection remains open.
The injured man in October, who was in his mid-30s, likely fell from the catwalk above the silo, according to Deputy Fire Chief Richard Nelson.
He suffered a broken arm in the fall and possibly injured the other, and appeared to have sustained a head injury as well.
According to OSHA, falls are the leading cause of construction-related deaths. Out of 1,008 construction fatalities in 2018, 320 were caused by falls.
Since 2012, OSHA has partnered with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) on a Fall Prevention Campaign to raise awareness among workers and employers about common fall hazards in construction, and how falls from ladders, scaffolds and roofs can be prevented.
OSHA has six months to complete its inspections and did not comment on the status of either case.
Guthrie Scrimgeour can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @g_scrimgeour.
