Man Killed in Alstom Industrial Accident

A man dies after an industrial accident today.

Alstom employees build a variety of turbines and generators, and we're told one man was working somewhere inside of Alstom this afternoon when he fell to his death.

An ambulance responds to a fatal accident at Alstom Power on Riverfront Parkway today.

"Any time there's a medical call resulting in a fatality we come out to see if there's any foul play," Sgt. Jerri Weary, with the Chattanooga Police Department, says.

But Sgt. Jerri Weary says investigators ruled forty eight year old Larry Barbee's death an accident. An eyewitness says Barbee was working on a catwalk, discarding metal into it to a container below when he fell.

"We were advised that the fall was about thirty to forty feet and the fall did cause his death," Weary says.

Now T.O.S.H.A., Tennessee's Occupational Safety & Health Administration, has opened an investigation into the accident.

"We are investigating that fatal accident today, I understand the location was Alstom Power but the employee worked for a company called H & H Brown Incorporated," Melissa Reierson, with T.O.S.H.A., says.

The victim was actually employed at H&H Brown Incorporated but we're told that it's not unusual for a larger company like Alstom to contract out their workers. T.O.S.H.A. officials say they will interview employees at H&H Brown and at Alstom as their investigation moves forward.

H&H Brown Incorporated provides a number of industrial services and their website says "safety is the first priority of our companies. Our safety program includes weekly safety meetings, daily task assignments and OSHA certified trained employees."

We tried talking with someone from H&H Brown today but we were directed to the President who already left for the day.

TOSHA officials say their investigation will last about four to six weeks at which time they can either choose to cite Alstom or not.

In case you're curious we found a document covering the last time Alstom in Tennessee was cited - it happened back in 2006, TOSHA issued a penalty for 'respiratory protection'.

Fire fighters also responded to a fire at Alstom about two weeks ago. Firefighters say the fire was relatively small, but it took a while to put out, because they had a hard time reaching it. The area where the fire broke out was in the process of being demolished.