If you’ve gone down the grocery store aisles this holiday season, you may have noticed that something’s missing: whipped cream. That delicious topping that adds a nice touch to pies, cakes and iced coffees has been a conspicuous no-show this year, and there’s a tragic reason ? a workplace accident that took the life of one worker.
The thing that makes whipped cream whipped cream is a gas that most people think is harmless. It’s nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas. In August, a plant operator was filling up a tanker with the substance when it exploded, catapulting his body 50 to 75 feet away. The explosion caused another tanker full of nitrous oxide to explode, wreaking havoc to the surrounding area and leaving the worker dead.
Investigators are looking into the accident and, while they haven’t reached a definitive conclusion, they suspect it has to do with a problem with the pump. The plant where the explosion occurred has remained closed since the accident, and that has kept manufacturers from making their usual quota of the whipped topping.
There’s no word as to the cause of this accident yet, but workplace accidents are a common occurrence here in Illinois. When a worker is killed or injured on the job, their families deserve to be taken care of in the form of compensation for medical bills, funeral costs and loss of wages. If their workers’ compensation claim is denied, one option is to turn to an attorney for help. An attorney with experience in workplace accidents may be able to help them get the compensation they need.
Source: theatlantic.com, “The Deadly Explosion Behind America’s Whipped-Cream Shortage,” Sarah Zhang, December 20, 2016
