WEDNESDAY 9/15/2021 2:00 p.m.
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – A person is dead after a “tragic event” at the University of Utah Hospital on Wednesday.
Alison Flynn Gaffney, the executive director at University Hospital, says the hospital was moving a piece of equipment – an MRI machine – from the fourth floor to the first floor. She says in the process of the move, two people were injured. One of those individuals has died.
These individuals were contracted employees intended to help with the move.
According to Gaffney, the hospital had been planning to move this equipment for “multiple years” and multiple emergency and safety plans had been in effect.
Salt Lake City Fire had originally responded to the scene, calling it a hazmat incident. According to Gaffney, firefighters have cleared the scene. OSHA is also investigating.
Gaffney says the average MRI weighs 20,000 pounds. To move the machine, Gaffney calls it an “outside event,” explaining there is “infrastructure and scaffolding” and “multiple safety components” involved. She adds it is unclear what caused the deadly incident.
Moves like this happen “all the time,” according to Gaffney, and the hospital has done it successfully “many, many times.”
“Today was not one of those days,” she explains.
ORIGINAL STORY: Injuries reported at hazmat incident in Salt Lake City
WEDNESDAY 9/15/2021 12:04 p.m.
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – Salt Lake City emergency crews are responding to a hazmat incident at the University of Utah Hospital campus.
Few details are available but Salt Lake City Fire confirms there is an industrial accident with injuries. No evacuations have been ordered at this time.
This is a developing story, ABC4.com is working to gather additional information.
