Falling scrap metal injures worker

The man was pinned for more than an hour at a recycling plant.

By ANDREW MEACHAM, Times Staff Writer
Published October 26, 2007

A Bayflite crew takes a 21-year-old man to a helicopter to be flown to Tampa General Hospital. The man, whose name has not been released, was trapped for more than hour after scrap metal fell onto his leg at Trademark Metals Recycling.
	[Skip O'Rourke | Times]

TAMPA - A man working at a recycling plant was injured Thursday when a piece of scrap metal fell onto his leg.

The 21-year-old man, whose name has not been released, was flown to Tampa General Hospital from Trademark Metals Recycling on 5220 Dover St., off U.S. 41, after being trapped for more than hour. His condition was not released.

The man was employed by Rectec, a Louisiana metal wholesaler subcontracting for Trademark. According to Trademark facilities manager Jeff Smith, the man was cutting an old crane with a torch at about 8:30 a.m. when a piece of metal fell, pinning his ankle against a larger hunk of metal on the ground.

"He screamed really loud and yelled for help," said Pablo Rodriguez, 42, an independent trucker waiting to make a delivery when the accident occurred.

Hillsborough Fire Rescue trucks arrived within minutes, but it took medics about an hour to determine the safest course and to free the man, Hillsborough Fire Rescue spokesman Ray Yeakley said.

At one point, rescuers called for a surgeon from Tampa General Hospital to stand by in case the man's leg needed to be amputated, but that measure proved unnecessary, and the surgeon never left the hospital, Yeakley said.

Trademark has shut down work to investigate whether safety standards had been followed, Smith said.

"We adhere to strict OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules and require contractors to do that as well," Smith said.

A representative of Rectec, reached by telephone at the company's Hammond, La., headquarters, declined to comment on the accident.

Andrew Meacham can be reached at (813) 661-2431 or ameacham@sptimes.com.

[Last modified October 26, 2007, 00:20:35]