Dresser-Rand Group Inc. on September 29 reported that two of its employees were injured at the company's reciprocating compressor facility in Painted Post, N.Y. The injuries resulted from an explosion during a helium test of a cylinder, which is a component of a reciprocating compressor.
The explosion occurred at approximately 5:45 p.m. Eastern time on September 28. The two employees were taken to Arnot Odgen Hospital in Elmira, N.Y. One of the employees, a second-shift employee in the cylinder assembly and test area, is in critical condition. The other employee sustained moderate injuries and has been released from the hospital. Families of both of the employees have been notified.
"We are very concerned about our injured employees and their families," said Doug Rich, general manager of the Painted Post facility. "We are working with the family of our critically injured employee and will continue to keep in contact with them and do what we can to support them."
According to Dresser-Rand, the company's chief safety officer, Joseph Megginson, has made immediate plans to travel to Painted Post from the corporate headquarters in Houston Texas in order to ensure that the Dresser-Rand testing facility is safe for all other product testing and to lead the safety investigation with Rich on this incident.
Vincent R. Volpe Jr., president and CEO of Dresser-Rand, said that, "Dresser-Rand's first priority is the injured employees. Our injured employees and their families are in our thoughts and prayers. We are focused on doing whatever we can to support our employees and their families at this time."
According to Megginson, "Our company has an excellent safety record, so an incident like this is traumatic for everyone involved. Our first action is to support the injured employees, their families, and our other employees, and to ensure that our cylinder testing process is safe."
Dresser-Rand's safety record is in the top tier of industrial manufacturers. According to Rich, "we will be focusing our future efforts on the safety investigation."
Dresser-Rand is among the largest suppliers of rotating equipment solutions to the worldwide oil, gas, petrochemical and process industries. The company operates manufacturing facilities in the United States, France, United Kingdom, Germany, Norway, India and China, and maintains a network of 31 service and support centers covering more than 140 countries.
