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Workplace accident: An employee slipped and spilled sulfuric acid on his skin at Optiforms in Temecula.

An employee was airlifted to a burn unit Wednesday after he slipped and fell into a sulfuric acid spill at the Optiforms plant in Temecula.

•   An employee at an electroform manufacturing plant dropped a jar of sulfuric acid and then slipped and fell in the corrosive liquid.

•   He suffered second-degree burns on at least 18 percent of his body and was airlifted to a burn unit.

•   Twenty employees were evacuated while hazmat teams cleaned the spill.

•   Cal/OSHA is investigating the accident.

The workplace accident occurred shortly before 10:30 a.m. at 42310 Winchester Road, according to a report in the Riverside Press-Enterprise.

Riverside County Fire Department spokeswoman Melody Hendrickson said the employee — a 44-year-old electroforming manager, whose name was not released – was carrying two glass jars of sulfuric acid when he dropped them on the floor. The jars shattered and spilled the acid onto the floor, and the employee slipped and fell into the corrosive liquid.

The injured employee suffered second-degree burns on 18 percent of his body, mostly on his shoulder and back, Hendrickson told the Temecula Patch news site. He was also badly burnt on his right hand by the shattered glass.  He was airlifted by helicopter to the burn unit at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton.

The California Emergency Management Agency said about 20 employees were evacuated from the receiving area and the machine shop because of the sulfuric acid spill. Environmental Health and Riverside County Fire Hazmat teams responded to the scene to clean the area.

Three fire engines, one helicopter, and 11 firefighters responded to the scene. According to the accident report, about one gallon of sulfuric acid was spilled.

Cal/OSHA is investigating the accident.

Optiforms manufactures electroformed products and optical coatings, according the company website.

Dangers of Sulfuric Acid

Sulfuric acid, the largest-volume industrial chemical produced in the world, is very useful but also can be extremely dangerous. According to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), exposure to sulfuric acid can cause:

• eye, nose, and throat irritation (cough, sore throat)
• shortness of breath, pulmonary edema
• conjunctivitis
• stomatitis
• tracheobronchitis
• dental erosion, skin, eye pain and burns
• dermatitis, and
• blisters.

At a high exposure level, it also has been found to cause cancer in some people.

Temecula Workplace Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented workplace accident victims for 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

A 7-year-old boy died two days after falling from a Sugar Bowl ski lift. (Photo: KCRA)

A 7-year-old boy died Tuesday after he fell from a ski lift and sustained a critical head injury Sunday at the Sugar Bowl ski resort in Northern California.

•   A 7-year-old avid skier fell 60 feet from a chair lift at a Sierra ski resort. He landed in a rocky area that was only partly covered by snow.

•   The boy suffered a critical head injury and was airlifted to a hospital in Reno, where he had surgery.

•   Sadly, he did not survive his injuries. He died on Sunday.

The accident occurred shortly before 11 a.m. Sunday, according to a report in the Auburn Journal.

Resort spokesman John Monson said the boy, who lived in Davis, was a member of the Sugar Bowl ski team. He was riding with two other team members on the Mount Lincoln Express chair lift when he fell 60 feet onto a hard-packed surface that was not fully covered in snow, Monson said.

The boy, who was wearing a helmet when he fell, suffered a severe head injury, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal. Rescue patrol transported the boy down the hill on a sled. One witness said he saw the boy receiving CPR before he was airlifted via helicopter to Renown Medical Center in Reno.

At the hospital, doctors performed surgery to relieve the pressure in the little boy’s skull, but he died two days later.

Davis resident Jim Powell was at the resort chaperoning a high school ski team field trip on Sunday. He told the Davis Enterprise that he rode the same chairlift just moments later the victim fell.

“It did not look good” Powell said. “An adult would not have survived that fall.” Exposed rock stuck out from under the partial snow cover, he said.

But snow conditions are not necessarily a mitigating factor, ski patrol member James Margolis told the Gazette-Journal. Margolis said any 60-foot  fall from the chair lift would be “lethal, whether it’s in good conditions or bad.”

State officials and the Sugar Bowl Corporation both are conducting investigations. Monson said a state-led, independent inspection of the chair lift concluded that there were no malfunctions.

“We’re trying to work through what happened,” Monson said. He noted that there were conflicting reports as to what actually happened before the boy fell. “It’s our responsibility to gather all statements and determine what happened.”

Sugar Bowl has no minimum age requirement for skiers or snowboarders riding the lift without an adult.

California Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented all types of accident victims and their families for 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

A woman fell to her death from the Queen Mary in Long Beach.

A 26-year-old woman fell to her death from the Queen Mary, a cruise ship turned hotel/restaurant, Monday night in Long Beach.

•   A woman and her boyfriend were leaving the Queen Mary via a fourth-deck walkway when the woman fell 75 feet into the  freezing water below.

•   Her boyfriend ran down to dock-level and jumped in the water after her. Then an employee jumped in to try to help. Police and firefighter rescue teams dove in and rescued all three of them.

•   The woman died at the hospital. An autopsy is set to determine if she drowned or died from injuries suffered during the fall.

•   Toxicology tests will determine if alcohol may have been a factor in the accident.

The fatal accident occurred at about 8:30 p.m., according to a report in the Long Beach Press-Telegram.

Long Beach Police Department spokesperson Nancy Pratt said the woman, later identified as Kelly Ryann Dorrel of Long Beach, was leaving the ship with her boyfriend when the accident occurred.

Witnesses told police the couple was on the fourth floor deck of the 237-foot-tall ship when Dorrel crossed over the railing on a walkway and fell to the frigid water 75 feet below, Pratt said. The water temperature was about 30 degrees.

Dorrel’s 40-year-old boyfriend shouted for help, went down to dock-level, and jumped into the water from about 15-feet above to try to save her, the Long Beach Gazette reported. A Queen Mary employee also dove in to try to help the other two.

When police arrived, they found Dorrel and the two men in the freezing cold water. Two police officers jumped in to help the victim and her boyfriend, who was suffering from hypothermia and who could not get out of the water, Pratt said.

The Long Beach Fire Department’s Swiftwater Rescue Team arrived shortly thereafter and immediately attempted a rescue,” spokesperson Steve Yamamoto said.

Paramedics rushed Dorrel to a nearby hospital in critical condition. She was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office Lieutenant Fred Corral said it was not yet known whether Dorrel died from blunt force injuries she suffered from her fall or if she drowned. An autopsy was scheduled for Thursday.

There were some reports that Dorrel may have been intoxicated, but Corral said a full toxicology report would be necessary in order to determine whether alcohol was a factor in her fall. It can take six to eight weeks to obtain results from those tests, Corral said.

Dorrel’s boyfriend also was taken to the hospital to be treated for hypothermia and minor injuries. He was expected to recover.

Police classified the death as accidental, though they noted it remains under investigation by both the police department and the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Department.

Long Beach Accident Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented slip and fall accident victims and their families for 35 years. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

A San Ramon woman slipped and fell to her death while descending Half-Dome in Yosemite.

Yosemite’s second fatal accident in two weeks took the life of a 26-year-old San Ramon woman who slipped and fell from the Half Dome cables at the national park on Sunday.

•   A hiker and three friends who had a permit to climb Half Dome were among about 20 hikers who made the ascent Sunday morning.

•  At 11 a.m., park officials started sending Twitter messages warning of a thunderstorm. The rains made the granite peak especially slippery.

•   The San Ramon woman successfully climbed Half Dome but slipped and fell 600 feet down from the park-installed cables on her way down. She died at the scene.

The accident occurred shortly before noon, according to a report in the San Ramon Express.

Yosemite Park Ranger Kari Cobb said Hayley LaFlamme had had a permit to climb Half Dome. She made the ascent with three friends. They were among a group of about 20 hikers who climbed the mountain that morning despite the possibility of rain, which can make the granite peak extremely slippery.

At about 11 a.m., park officials started sending messages on Twitter about a thunder storm, according to an Associated Press report. But LaFlamme and her friends were already on the mountain.

The San Ramon hiker successfully made the 8.5-mile climb to the top of Half Dome. She was on her way back down, using cables installed by park officials, when she somehow slipped and fell 600 feet down from the shoulder of the dome where the cables end, Cobb said.

The park’s emergency communications center received a 911 call reporting that a hiker had fallen from the cables. Park rangers responded to the scene but LaFlamme already had died.

The fatal accident was the second in two weeks. On July 19, three hikers were swept over the rushing Vernal Fall after they climbed over a metal railing and entered the Merced River. (Read more: Presumed Dead: Three Hikers Swept Over Raging Yosemite Waterfall)

“A lot of people who visit Yosemite aren’t necessarily familiar with nature,” Cobb said. “They are really out of their element and may not understand the force of nature and what they may encounter in nature.”

But Fresno State psychology professor Paul Price doesn’t blame the park visitors, especially when trails are kept open under dangerous conditions.

“If the trail isn’t closed, people tend to take that as a source of information: Wouldn’t they tell us not to do it if it were dangerous?” Price said.

The last person to fall and die on Half Dome was Majoj Kumar, also of San Ramon. He died in June 2009. The hikers who witnessed the fall were so frightened that 40 of them refused to move and had to be rescued, Cobb said.

Yosemite Injury Lawyers

The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have successfully represented injured travelers and their families for more than 35 years.  The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.

Three hikers are presumed dead after they plunged over the edge of Yosemite’s rushing Vernal Fall.  (AP Photo) Click on photo to see full size.

Three hikers slipped and fell and were swept over the edge of a raging waterfall in Yosemite National Park on Tuesday.

•   Members of a church group visiting Yosemite hiked up a steep trail and climbed over a metal rail to step into the rushing Merced River for photographs.

•   Two of them slipped and fell and another who tried to save them also slipped and fell.

•   Within a few seconds, all three of them were swept over the precipice of Vernal Fall and plunged more than 300 feet to the rocky river below.

•   All three are presumed dead.

The hikers — 22-year-old Hormiz David of Modesto, 27-year-old Ninos Yacoub of Turlock, and 21-year-old Ramina Badal of Modesto — were visiting Yosemite with members of the St. George’s Church in Ceres, according to an Associated Press report.