About Pickens County progress. (Jasper, Ga.) 1899-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 2023)
THURSDAY. DECEMBER 21.2023 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 3A State Regent visits local DAR chapter DAR State Regent Betty Harrah stands with local DAR Sequoyah Chapter Regent Suzanne Harman, right front, at a recent meeting. The leaders are pictured with new Se quoyah Chapter members whose patriotic group now totals 140 women. Federal agency: Fatal chemical release at Georgia poultry plant ’preventable' By Mekiss Huneke DAR member The Sequoyah Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution enjoyed a visit from Georgia State Society DAR Regent Betty Harrah at their December 7th meeting. State Regent Harrah up dated the group on efforts to restore the home of George Walton, a Declaration of In dependence signer. His home, Meadow Garden, is located in Augusta and is open to the public. The Geor gia State Society DAR is working to raise funds to re store the home back to its original state. In addition to hearing from State Regent Harrah, the Sequoyah Chapter en joyed Christmas carols with the North Georgia Veterans. New members were wel comed to the Sequoyah Chapter, increasing their membership to 140. The business meeting was fol lowed by a Christmas tea fea turing sweet treats and cookies commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party on Decem ber 16. The National Society of the Daughters of the Ameri can Revolution was founded in 1890 and has a current membership of more than 190,000 women. The Se quoyah Chapter, based in Pickens County, was founded in 2005 and currently has a membership of 140 women active in promoting patriot ism, heritage and serving our veterans through various events and service projects. The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a women’s service organiza tion whose members can trace their lineage to an indi vidual who contributed to se curing American independence during the Revolutionary War. Today’s DAR is dynamic and diverse, with over 185,000 members in 3,000 chapters in the United States and abroad. DAR members annually pro vide millions of hours of vol unteer service to their local communities across the coun try and world. DAR chapters participate in projects to pro mote historic preservation, education, and patriotism. Over one million members have joined the organization since its founding in 1890. If you are interested in learning more about DAR membership, visit http://se- quoyah.georgiastatedar.org/ or contact sequoyahchapter- dar@gmail.com. By Dave Williams Bureau Chief Capitol Beat News Service ATLANTA - The release of fatal liquid nitrogen at a poultry processing plant in Gainesville nearly three years ago was “completely preventable,” according to a newly released federal re port. Six workers died at the Foundation Food Group (FFG) plant in January 2021 when a liquid nitrogen con trol system in a freezer room failed due to a bent tube that allowed the room to be filled with a deadly cloud, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) found. The severity of the inci dent was worsened by FFG’s inadequate emergency pre paredness, including a failure to install air monitoring and alarm devices. As a result, at least 14 workers entered the freezer room or the surround ing area to investigate the in cident or try to rescue coworkers, with three of those workers and a fire fighter suffering serious in juries from asphyxiation. “Workers were not aware of the deadly consequences of a liquid nitrogen release,” said Drew Sahli, the CSB in vestigator in charge. “Ulti mately trying to save their colleagues led to them sacri ficing their own lives. This is a known hazard, and better training and communication could have prevented such a tragedy.” After the incident, FFG sold the plant to Gold Creek Foods, which is its current owner. Gold Creek does not have liquid nitrogen freezing processes in the building where the incident occurred. The CSB report made 12 safety recommendations, in cluding calling on the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to establish a na tional standard addressing hazards arising from the stor age, use, and/or handling of cryogenic asphyxiants. The agency also sug gested that the Compressed Gas Association and the Na tional Fire Prevention Asso ciation improve their guidance on the safe use of cryogenic asphyxiants, in cluding liquid nitrogen, “The CSB’s recommen dations are important for pre venting incidents involving liquid nitrogen and lessening their severity if they do occur,” CSB Chairman Steve Owens said. “The hazards of liquid nitrogen must be clearly communicated to workers, and the safety man agement systems for opera tions that use liquid nitrogen must be improved.” METAL ROOFING DAWSONVILLE A^\\metal products ^ ^ Your Metal Roofing Specialist BUY DIRECT in Dawsonville Painted Galvalume Metal Roofing 18 Colors In Stock Delivery & Contractor Referrals Available 82 Etowah River Road • Dawsonville 706-265-3099 • 800-519-4616 EXPERIENCE PREMIUM TV via your internet connection. IVS Holdings __ 888.505.3785 H” aECTV[)EALER Service subject to DIRECTV delivered vie internet terms and conditions. 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