Bizarre series of events leaves worker seriously injured

Part of workplace safety is identifying risks. However, sometimes it’s difficult to imagine a series of events like this one that left a worker severely injured.

While raised on a boom, the worker was using a cutting torch to remove bolts from a sign on a Kroger store in Murfreesboro, TN. One of the hot bolts from the sign fell and melted through a hydraulic hose on the boom.

That caused pressurized hydraulic fluid to shoot out of the hose and into the path of the worker’s torch, setting the worker and Kroger sign on fire.

The man jumped out of the boom, injuring his legs and breaking his ankles. The boom was raised about 18 feet above ground level when he jumped.

The man, an employee of Jarvis Sign, wasn’t identified. An eyewitness said the worker was conscious and limping after the incident and had to ask others how badly burned his back was.

He was taken to a local hospital. There are no reports on his condition.