Two UTC Aerospace employees injured in Alabama blast
24 June 2013
An explosion on June 21 at the UTC Aerospace Systems plant in Foley, Alabama, injured two employees, one severely. Local fire officials said the onsite response team dealt with ensuing fire and brought it under control rapidly. One employee suffered severe burns and was taken by helicopter to the University of South Alabama Regional Burn Center in Mobile.
The UTC plant at Foley
Andrew Martin, a media relations official at UTC's corporate office in Charlotte, N.C., said the accident occurred when the first employee, who could not be identified because of privacy issues, was cutting metal. The other unidentified employee was injured while responding to the explosion.
"Our employee was doing metal cutting and right now teams are just working to understand all the circumstances around it that led to the incident," Martin said.
City Administrator Mike Thompson said earlier in the morning that it was his understanding that the explosion occurred when the employee was either welding a drum or using a torch near a drum that still had vapour in it.
The Foley plant employs around 800 workers and was formerly owned by Goodrich Corp, which was acquired a year ago by UTC.