Worker Dies in Wind Tower Collapse

Jenny Albano

Contributor

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Chadd Mitchell died on Saturday at a wind farm that is under construction in Oregon. Mitchell was killed when a 242-foot-tall tower he was working on fell over.

Mitchell, of Goldendale, Washington, was working at the top of the tower -- essentially a hollow tube -- when it buckled. A second worker in the tube was injured and a third worker on the ground was not hurt, according to The Oregonian newspaper. Federal officials are investigating the incident, it said.

Mitchell's death is the first reported for the wind power industry due to a tower collapse.

Susan Sloan of the American Wind Energy Association stated that wind turbines and the towers that hold them are not inherently unsafe, and said she could not speak specifically of the Oregon incident. Sloan also mentioned that there have been a handful of people who have been killed while performing maintenance or construction at wind farms.

For more information on this subject, please refer to our section on Workplace Injuries and Discrimination.