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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:30:45 PM EDT
A worker at a Caterpillar foundry died instantly after he fell into a crucible at the Illinois worksite, officials say, according to media reports. The incident happened on Thursday, June 2, at Caterpillar's facility in Mapleton in Central Illinois, Peoria County coroner Jamie Harwood said. Steven Dierkes, 39, was working near a crucible when he fell into it, the coroner said.
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/nation-world/national/article262288822.html ooooffff. That's a hell of a way to go. You think he felt anything or was it an instant sizzle  |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:33:59 PM EDT
[#1]
That's terrible.
 Leaves behind three little girls. |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:35:08 PM EDT
[#2]
If the steel was molten, it would be 2700-3000 degrees F.... I would hope that's hot enough to instantly vaporize nerves and such, so the poor guy wouldn't feel a thing.
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:36:27 PM EDT
[#3]
Quote HistoryQuoted: If the steel was molten, it would be 2700-3000 degrees F.... I would hope that's hot enough to instantly vaporize nerves and such, so the poor guy wouldn't feel a thing. Good question. I certainly hope so, since he would basically float on the top instead of sinking in (which I would imagine would kill him quicker) |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:36:40 PM EDT
[#4]
OSHA will have a look at the scene and have a bite of someone ass.
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:37:01 PM EDT
[#5]
Horrific.
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:37:41 PM EDT
[#6]
I doubt it was instant but I hope it was quick.
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:38:17 PM EDT
[#7]
What a horrible way to go. Rest In Peace
Wish I didn’t click on this thread. |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:38:18 PM EDT
[#8]
Quote HistoryQuoted: If the steel was molten, it would be 2700-3000 degrees F.... I would hope that's hot enough to instantly vaporize nerves and such, so the poor guy wouldn't feel a thing. Hope you're right. |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:38:36 PM EDT
[#9]
Either way, he probably had enough time to register his last moments
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:39:40 PM EDT
[#10]
Quote HistoryQuoted: OSHA will have a look at the scene and have a bite of someone ass. So the familes lost a father / husband / son and Osha will get rich from the fines. |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:40:06 PM EDT
[#11]
How do you recover the body?
What did he have on the Clinton's? |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:40:27 PM EDT
[#12]
That's nightmare level horrible.
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:40:32 PM EDT
[#13]
More info, including a pic of the departed:
https://nypost.com/2022/06/07/worker-steven-dierkes-melted-in-half-after-falling-into-vat-of-molten-iron/ According to a witness he was taking a sample and tripped. |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:41:00 PM EDT
[#14]
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:41:45 PM EDT
[#15]
Maybe as bad as the restaurant floor collapse where the fryers spilled on the employees
""When the floor collapsed, the deep fryers tilted forward in the direction of three staff members, immersing them in hot grease," LVFD Chief Corky Cochran told ABC News. The harrowing incident happened early this past Monday evening at the fast food restaurant. Two customers, who had been placing orders when the incident happened, managed to get two workers out. But one employee got "stuck in crevice in the floor" and trapped between appliances, he added. "That girl in there was literally cooking," Margaret Henderson, one of the customers, told ABC station KTRK-TV in Houston. "Her body was cooking in the grease," she said. https://abcnews.go.com/US/customers-rescue-employees-burned-frying-grease-restaurant-floor/story?id=41116824 |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:42:00 PM EDT
[#16]
Quote HistoryQuoted: How do you recover the body? What did he have on the Clinton's? |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:42:20 PM EDT
[#17]
The word is, half of him fell to the deck after he tripped and fell into the crucible. I am guessing part of him burned up, leaving the other half that wasn't in the crucible on the deck. It was his first week on the job. That facility has had lots of injuries and deaths over the years. Most recent was about 6 months ago where a contractor fell several floors to his death through an open floor. It's a foundry that casts many large parts for use in Caterpillar products.
Caterpillar has a very strong safety culture with lots of emphasis on everything safety. However, like all corporations, some things are overlooked or are just too dangerous to prevent all accidents. Supposedly they sent some of the foundry work to Mexico years ago, but the quality was so bad they brought it back to Mapleton. |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:42:40 PM EDT
[#18]
Quote HistoryQuoted: OSHA will have a look at the scene and have a bite of someone ass. Quote HistoryQuoted: OSHA will have a look at the scene and have a bite of someone ass. I am betting, PURE ASUMPTION, that some type of safety measure in place was ignored/bypassed. Unless everything was done right and some freak occurrence took place... Quoted: Good question. I certainly hope so, since he would basically float on the top instead of sinking in (which I would imagine would kill him quicker) I would hope with the fall, was high enough to plop in like a pool to be taken out faster. If not, Fuck.... |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:42:41 PM EDT
[#19]
Nope nope nope
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:43:08 PM EDT
[#20]
Not the first time it's happened.
There's several stories about guys jumping into ladels and such because of cancer or depression or just falling in by accident. I think they test for phosphorus or something to make sure there's no human remains in steel  The mills will sometimes cast an ingot for the funeral when it happens. |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:43:13 PM EDT
[#21]
Quote HistoryQuoted: OSHA will have a look at the scene and have a bite of someone ass. Quote HistoryQuoted: OSHA will have a look at the scene and have a bite of someone ass. You would think so, and I would think it would be damn near impossible to fall into a vat of molten metal in a modern factory. From the article: Even before the deaths of Dierkes and Adams, the facility has faced serious OSHA violations. In 2020, it was fined $5,750 following a complaint over a fall. In 2019, it faced $4,337 and $17,711 fines following separate violations. Two years prior, it faced a $25,868 penalty after a worker was struck by a crane he believed had faulted. Another Caterpillar worker suffered six broken ribs following a separate 2017 incident when he climbed a chair to reach a part and fell onto a concrete floor, OSHA said. The worksite was fined $5,079. Read more at: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/nation-world/national/article262288822.html#storylink=cpy I guess I've always assumed OSHA fines would be a bit more painful than that unless they were really trivial violations. |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:43:31 PM EDT
[#22]
The more I think about this... I bet he died really quick. He probably flash vaporized or melted by the combo of radiant heat and superheated air before he even landed. Probably a pretty instantaneous thing.
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:45:07 PM EDT
[#23]
Quote HistoryQuoted: How do you recover the body? What did he have on the Clinton's? Feel terrible for the guys family. Just a regular Joe out there working hard providing for his family, all the while welfare queens collect their monthly check while contributing absolutely nothing to society
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:45:49 PM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryDamn dude, you’re really funny! |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:45:58 PM EDT
[#25]
"After the crucible’s contents were given several hours to cool, officials sorted through the metal fragments and found Dierkes’ remains, the coroner said."
I am surprised anything was left! |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:49:09 PM EDT
[#26]
Quote HistoryQuoted: "After the crucible's contents were given several hours to cool, officials sorted through the metal fragments and found Dierkes' remains, the coroner said." I am surprised anything was left! There typically isn't...human bodies aren't refractory. Who knows what the "officials" in this story are actually doing or what the reporter means  ETA: I've walked over, around and even on top of (on lids) hot tundishes/ladels/transfer vessels, etc... thousands of times. If you fell in, there'd be nothing there in moments, just fire and smoke. |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:50:31 PM EDT
[#27]
Quote HistoryQuoted: "After the crucible’s contents were given several hours to cool, officials sorted through the metal fragments and found Dierkes’ remains, the coroner said." I am surprised anything was left! grizzly, but pertinent thought: what would the test reports for that heat number look like? trace manganese and other minerals? would it make A-36 spec? |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:51:57 PM EDT
[#28]
Quote HistoryQuoted: So the familes lost a father / husband / son and Osha will get rich from the fines. Govt gonna govt |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:54:12 PM EDT
[#29]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The more I think about this... I bet he died really quick. He probably flash vaporized or melted by the combo of radiant heat and superheated air before he even landed. Probably a pretty instantaneous thing. I bet it was quick but not quick enough. The moisture in the outer tissues of body is going to boil off and make a layer between you and the steel. definitely makes me add "foundry" to places I don't want to work. hardly anybody dies of infected paper cuts 
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:57:50 PM EDT
[#30]
<-- 37 years in foundry business... that would be bad. I did know a guy on the floor who fell into an caustic tank at 285°f, sodium hydroxide. No he did not live, and the guy that pulled him out killed himself a few years later.
This is why am in engineering so I can stand up high and watch crap happen... |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:57:56 PM EDT
[#31]
Quote HistoryQuoted: More info, including a pic of the departed: https://nypost.com/2022/06/07/worker-steven-dierkes-melted-in-half-after-falling-into-vat-of-molten-iron/ According to a witness he was taking a sample and tripped.  Yeah, that article has a lot more info. Sounds like his top half went in while his legs and waist stayed out. |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 4:58:49 PM EDT
[#32]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I bet it was quick but not quick enough. The moisture in the outer tissues of body is going to boil off and make a layer between you and the steel. definitely makes me add "foundry" to places I don't want to work. hardly anybody dies of infected paper cuts Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: The more I think about this... I bet he died really quick. He probably flash vaporized or melted by the combo of radiant heat and superheated air before he even landed. Probably a pretty instantaneous thing. I bet it was quick but not quick enough. The moisture in the outer tissues of body is going to boil off and make a layer between you and the steel. definitely makes me add "foundry" to places I don't want to work. hardly anybody dies of infected paper cuts Yeah but that only saves you from the conduction of the steel on your skin. You're still being roasted by the air and the radiation. At 3k F, that's gotta be instant. |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 5:00:00 PM EDT
[#33]
 What If You Fell Into Molten Metal Terminator 2 Style? This gives a pretty good rundown on what happens when you fall into a vat of molten steel |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 5:02:13 PM EDT
[#34]
Quoted: A worker at a Caterpillar foundry died instantly after he fell into a crucible at the Illinois worksite, officials say, according to media reports. The incident happened on Thursday, June 2, at Caterpillar's facility in Mapleton in Central Illinois, Peoria County coroner Jamie Harwood said. Steven Dierkes, 39, was working near a crucible when he fell into it, the coroner said. https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/nation-world/national/article262288822.html ooooffff. That's a hell of a way to go. You think he felt anything or was it an instant sizzle |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 5:03:56 PM EDT
[#35]
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Posted: 6/10/2022 5:07:46 PM EDT
[#36]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The more I think about this... I bet he died really quick. He probably flash vaporized or melted by the combo of radiant heat and superheated air before he even landed. Probably a pretty instantaneous thing. Think more explodey. You learned in basic physics that water expands to 1600 times its volume when flashing to steam. Imagine that in an enclosed brain pan. |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 5:08:45 PM EDT
[#37]
Horrible...thermal annihilation.
Then the guy in PA falls into a big pot of chocolate the other day at M&M Mars. I pick chocolate over metal any day. |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 5:10:40 PM EDT
[#38]
He won't do that again...
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Posted: 6/10/2022 5:11:57 PM EDT
[#39]
Quote HistoryQuoted: grizzly, but pertinent thought: what would the test reports for that heat number look like? trace manganese and other minerals? would it make A-36 spec? probably excess carbon, charge it again and hit it with LOX to burn out some of the carbon |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 5:14:36 PM EDT
[#40]
Does anyone have a picture of what this setup would look like? Not the guy dying, I’m not a ghoul.
How high above the caldron thing would a person taking a sample be? And what would you be walking/standing on? |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 5:16:12 PM EDT
[#41]
Having worked around 20,000# of 2500+* molten glass for years…..oooff.
Not a fun way to go. |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 5:17:12 PM EDT
[#42]
Close to home for me. My dad retired from that foundry. He maintained the furnaces that melted the iron. After working in the plant for 30+years he was always cold when it was below 80.
He told be that if a few gallons of water got down in the furnace the expansion could blow the side out of the furnace. Said you could get people to run pretty fast when you had molten iron flowing across the floor. |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 5:18:15 PM EDT
[#43]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I don't think there would be anything to collect would there? I assume the molten steel would completely burn everything up?? Skin, bones, clothes and all.. Feel terrible for the guys family. Just a regular Joe out there working hard providing for his family, all the while welfare queens collect their monthly check while contributing absolutely nothing to society Did I read the article right? It said this happened in Dec 2021 also? |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 5:18:38 PM EDT
[#44]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Not the first time it's happened. There's several stories about guys jumping into ladels and such because of cancer or depression or just falling in by accident. I think they test for phosphorus or something to make sure there's no human remains in steel The mills will sometimes cast an ingot for the funeral when it happens. That's way more badass than an urn on the mantle. |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 5:19:56 PM EDT
[#45]
Back in the 70s, grew up around the steel mills in NW Indiana, dropping a boy in a molten kettle of steel is one way to get rid of the body..
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Posted: 6/10/2022 5:21:54 PM EDT
[#46]
That is terrible.
I'm surprised it was a man, obviously Biden needs to enact a program to get more women into this profession. |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 5:22:48 PM EDT
[#47]
poor guyMy dad worked at Caterpillar in East Peoria for 36 years, and my mom worked there for 41. I remember when I got out of school and was looking for a job my pop told me he'd try to help get me a job in the factory if I wanted but I wasn't allowed to work at that foundry. |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 5:29:19 PM EDT
[#48]
After the crucible’s contents were given several hours to cool, officials sorted through the metal fragments and found Dierkes’ remains, the coroner said. Damn, so he went in when there was molten metal. I wonder what that looks like after the fact. |
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Posted: 6/10/2022 5:33:29 PM EDT
[#49]
RIP hope it was fast.
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Posted: 6/10/2022 5:36:01 PM EDT
[#50]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Close to home for me. My dad retired from that foundry. He maintained the furnaces that melted the iron. After working in the plant for 30+years he was always cold when it was below 80. I hope I'm remembering this correctly. I knew a guy that worked in a foundry. He said that every morning he and his coworkers would drink the hottest hot coffee they could stand. This made them sweat so that they had sort of a protective layer of moisture on their skin at all times. He said the guys who scoffed at the practice always used to leave work with something like a sunburn until they got wise and started drinking the coffee too. |
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