SAFETY FLAWS SURROUNDING THREE ACCIDENTS : RICHARD JENSEN
Richard Jensen, 27, was a maintenance man at the Inflation Systems International, Inc., plant in the Santa Clarity Valley. Then, on Dec. 3, he was pressed into service as an explosives blender.
The following day he received burns to his hands, face and eyes in a flash fire. He had been given the wrong instructions on how to hand-mix explosive powders, a procedure that is risky even when done correctly. Company officials acknowledged he was wrongly told to mix the powders dry rather than after adding alcohol.
According to Defense Department records, friction from the mixing produced the fireball that burned Jensen and a fellow worker.
Jensen was on a job being done for Micronics International, Inc., a defense contractor virtually next door whose owners also hold stock in Inflation Systems.
Micronics had a contract to produce impulse cartridges--explosive devices that can be used to eject flares or bombs from airplanes. Micronics, in turn, contracted with Inflation Systems to supply the explosive mix that goes inside the cartridges.
Shortly before the accident, Defense Department inspectors complained to Micronics officials about their failure to see that Inflation Systems was complying with safety rules. Defense Department surveys at both companies disclosed that they didn’t even have copies of the safety manual they were supposed to obey.
Jensen did not want to become an explosives blender.
“I told them I did not want to go into that area because of the unsafeness,” Jensen said. “I’ve seen things blow up there before.”
But Christmas was coming, and Jensen was engaged to be married. He said a supervisor told him it was follow orders “or lose your job.” The supervisor has left the company and could not be reached.
Inflation Systems usually blends explosives with remote mixing equipment that allows workers to stay about 100 feet away.
Jensen was blending by hand, using a metal pestle and a mixing bowl as if he were making a cake.
The company later told the government there was too little powder for the remote mixer to be used; hand-blending was ordered to satisfy Micronics’ “urgent” need for the mixture. A Defense Department memo said the operation was “carried out as driven by the demands of production with little regard to preliminary planning.”
Brian Hamilton, president of the firm, acknowledged there were errors by his company but said Jensen’s injuries would have been less severe had he been wearing his safety glasses. Jensen acknowledged that he was not wearing the glasses but said if he had been they “would have just melted around my face . . . In some ways, I’m glad I wasn’t wearing them.”
Jensen, who lives in Canyon Country, is trying to support his wife and infant son on $140 a week in worker’s compensation. “Do you know what it’s like to try to survive on that?” he asked. “I have to borrow money from my mom and dad . . . just to make our bills.”
Before the accident Jensen was taking business classes at night. Since then he has been unable to read or drive because of blurred vision. His eyes are too light-sensitive to allow much time outdoors. Favorite pastimes such as hiking and water skiing are out of the question. Doctors tell him his vision should improve, he said, but not whether he will ever see as well as he did.
After the accident Inflation Systems said it had hired an expert to overhaul its safety program. The new man came from next door. He had been production manager at Micronics.
