FATALITY AT FINEGAND.
(From Our Own Correspondent.)
BALCLUTHA, February 27.
James D. (“Tim”) Taylor, a young married man, with two of a family, 29 years of age, belonging to Stirling, met with an accident at the Finegand freezing works yesterday a little after 5 p.m., that terminated fatally at 1.20 this morning. Taylor was employed in the digester room, where there is a number of huge vats used for melting animal fat. These are heated by steam, and Taylor was removing the lid of one of the vats when it blew up and he was badly scalded by a stream of hot fat and water that caught him on the bare chest, and also struck his body and arms. The pressure of steam was not on, but the explosion nevertheless sent the lid of the vat against Taylor with force sufficient to knock him down, and a stream of boiling fat hurtled out through a window into the yard below. The injured man was in great agony until an anaesthetic was administered after the arrival of Dr Macfarlane, of Balclutha, who was on the spot very shortly after being summoned by the management. The sufferer was conveyed to Balclutha Hospital within a very short time after the accident, but although everything was done to alleviate his sufferings the shock he had suffered was too great, and he passed away as stated. An inquest will be held. -Otago Daily Times, 28/2/1931.
BALCLUTHA, February 28.
An inquiry touching the death of James D. Taylor, as the result of severe scalding through the explosion of steam in a digester vat at the Finegand Freezing Works on Thursday afternoon, was opened by Mr H. J. Dixon, S.M., coroner for the district, at the Balclutha Courthouse last evening. Sergeant Armstrong intimated that he was not prepared to go on with the inquest at this stage, and would merely call one witness for identification purposes. — P. L, Nicolson, manager of the freezing works, gave formal evidence of identification, and added that Taylor had been employed at the works this year for about four weeks. — The coroner thereupon adjourned the inquiry to a date to be fixed later. -Otago Witness, 3/3/1931.
FINEGAND FATALITY
INQUEST CONCLUDED
[FROM OUR CORRESPONDANT.]
The adjourned inquest into the death of James D. Taylor, who died on February 27, as the result of an accident at the South Otago Freezing Works, was held in the Balclutha Courthouse yesterday before Mr H. J. Dickson, S.M. Mr J. G. Kelly appeared for the South Otago Freezing Company, and Mr H. S. Bremner for the deceased’s relatives.
Henry Stowell, foreman in charge of the tallow department of the freezing works, stated that on February 26 the deceased had taken charge of the digesters at a few minutes before 5 p.m. At about 4.45 witness had made his usual inspection of the digester room, and everything was all right. Digester number six, where the accident occurred, was cooling down. The temperature would be about 200 deg, not quite boiling, but quite sufficiently hot to give a severe scald. The lid of the digester weighed between two and three hundredweight, and was held in position by eight one and a-half inch bolts. There would be no danger in lifting the lid of the digester if the steam had not been turned on for some time, but if the steam had been turned on and the lid was lifted the inrush of cold air might cause the fat to erupt more or less violently. If any fat was discovered to be left over after the digester was closed the instructions were to leave it out. When opening the digester it was safest to stand at the side, so that if any outrush of fat occurred the likelihood of being struck was reduced to a minimum. It was his opinion that deceased must have jerked the lid of the digester, and that an outburst of the hot material had occurred.
Alex. A. MacFarlane gave medical evidence as to having been called to attend the deceased on February 26. The deceased was suffering from burns over about nine-tenths of his body. Deceased had been moved to the South Otago Hospital, and had died there at about 2 a.m. the next morning, the cause of death being shock caused by scalds.
John McKenzie, an employee in the tallow department, gave evidence that on February 26 the deceased had relieved him about 5 p.m. The lid was on No. 6 digester, and deceased screwed up the bolts with his fingers. They then discovered that some more fat was in the room below, and deceased said it was too much to leave out and he had wheeled the truck into the lift to take the material up into the digester room. Witness had then gone away but returned some minutes later on hearing an unusual noise. He found deceased kneeling in the lift and a man was holding him up. There was some fat lying on the floor. The lid was off the digester and hanging from the crane in the position it usually was when it was removed. He had seen deceased standing in front of the digester when opening the door and had warned him against this. The steam was turned off when he and the deceased went down to see what fat was left below.
L. S. Dawson, inspector of machinery, Dunedin, gave formal evidence of having inspected the digesters and having found them in good order. It would be a good thing to have a notice posted up to the effect that the lid must not be lifted when the digester was heated.
J. A. Galbraith, an employee of the South Otago Freezing Company, gave evidence that after 5 p.m. on the 26th he heard a noise and just after that a scream. He had hurried to the digester room and found the deceased lying on the floor. He was suffering from scalds, and there was fat lying on the floor.
The coroner found that, according to the evidence, the deceased had found that there was some fat left out of the digester, and, although it was dangerous to open the digester so soon after steam had been turned off, he had apparently removed the lid. The fat had then, in some manner, erupted, scalding the deceased. There was no direct evidence to show what caused the fat to burst out. No blame was attachable to anyone. The verdict would be that deceased died of shock caused by scalding. -Evening Star, 26/3/1931.
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