Worker Killed in Explosion At Pennsylvania Steel Plant

Zachary Miller

A worker was killed and three others injured after an explosion at Braeburn Alloy Steel Division just outside of Pittsburgh in Lower Burrell, Pennsylvania on January 22. The worker, Daniel Vakulick, age 20, died of his wounds at the hospital after the incident. Fellow workers, locals, and loved ones left flowers and others items in memorial with the slain man’s vehicle, which remained in the parking lot of the plant after his death.

It is still unclear what caused the explosion. OSHA is investigating the incident and Electralloy, Braeburn’s parent company, said it will cooperate with the authorities’ investigations. Working in steel furnaces is dangerous, and OSHA is too ineffective and toothless to impose enough pressure on capitalists to make workplaces safer in the face of the capitalists’ drive for profit. Any deviation in the various factors of the manufacturing process can lead to catastrophe, such as temperature, moisture, and materials in use. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, steel and iron workers ranked #6 in the most dangerous occupations in the US, with an average of 33 fatalities per 100,000 workers.

In 2021, another worker at Braeburn sued the company when a hydraulic press exploded, injuring him. The lawsuit has since been dropped, according to monopoly media.

Braeburn is a smaller subsidiary that employees less than 50 workers, half of whom are United Steel Workers. The mill sold to Electralloy in 2022 after its previous owners filed for bankruptcy, blaming declining sales due to Covid-19. In fact, the steel industry has been rocked by the capitalist economic crisis, leading to costly investment in new technology, layoffs, and acquisitions of smaller firms by monopolies, as in Braeburn’s case. Though the new owners hired all the previously-employed union workers, they refused to meet with union representatives, leading the union to file a pending National Labor Relations Board suit against the company in 2023. The inevitable trend of monopolization and centralization of capital brings with it increased assaults on workers’ rights and safety, which can only be countered with greater struggle.

Image: Braeburn Alloy buildings in Lower Burrell, PA, Flickr takomabibelot 2010

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