Tragedy struck the wood flooring industry on Feb. 19 when former UFloor rep Mike Summers passed away in a barge accident, and new details surrounding the matter have emerged.
Tragedy struck the wood flooring industry on Feb. 19 when former UFloor rep Mike Summers passed away in a barge accident, and new details surrounding the matter have emerged.
On that day, Mike Summers apparently entered a holding tank for ammonium lignosulfonate because the liquid, a non-toxic byproduct of the pulp and paper industry, was "setting up" from the cold weather and was not pumping properly, according to Matt Summers, Mike Summers' younger brother.
"Our family believes Mike opened the hatch and climbed down the ladder on his own accord," Matt Summers wrote in an email to Hardwood Floors. "It would defy the laws of physics for him to have fallen up, over and down into the small opening. There are many as-yet-unanswered protocol questions."
The low-oxygen environment within the 40,000-cubic-feet tank made it difficult for Mike Summers to breathe, and he passed out, Matt Summers wrote, based on discussions with a coroner.
In the aftermath of Mike Summers accidental death, various media reported that the chemical into which he fell was lignin amine, a toxic and corrosive chemical. But that was incorrect.
"My brother did not suffer long, was not chemically burned, had no marks on him and went peacefully to heaven," Matt Summers wrote.
To read a series of remembrances of Mike Summers, see Hardwood Floors' past coverage. Even more comments can be read on Mike Summers' facebook wall, too. And a video of his memorial service, held Feb. 25 at Church on the Hill in McMinnville, Ore., has been posted on USTREAM.