Jetway Tire Explosion Kills Toledo Express Airport Employee

Article published Tuesday, February 24, 2004

Jetway Tire Explosion Kills Airport Employee
Toledo Blade, OH


A Toledo Express Airport employee was killed early
yesterday when a tire he was repairing exploded, and
he was struck by the tire’s rim.

Brian J. Bergeon, 34, of Whitehouse had removed a tire
from a jetway - used by airplane passengers to connect
an airplane to the terminal - and taken it into a
maintenance building.

The accident is under investigation, but according to
the Lucas County Coroner’s Office it appears Mr.
Bergeon was trying to remove the tire from the rim
when it exploded.

The force sent the heavy rim upward, striking Mr.
Bergeon and knocking him 10 feet backward. He was hit
in the neck by the rim. The rim and tire continued
upward, striking the garage door 20 feet overhead,
according to Dr. Diane Barnett, Lucas County deputy
coroner.

Dr. Barnett, who performed the autopsy, said it
appears Mr. Bergeon removed the valve stem and was
forcing air into the tire so the seal would break and
the tire would separate from the rim. He was standing
on the tire, hitting it with a rubber mallet to get
the tire away from the rim, when it appears the tire
exploded.

The accident happened about 1:30 a.m., and Mr. Bergeon
was alone at the time. A co-worker discovered him and
called for assistance.

A helicopter from St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center was
sent to the airport, and a physician pronounced Mr.
Bergeon dead at the scene, said Brian Schwartz,
spokesman for the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority,
which operates Toledo Express.

"We’re deeply, deeply saddened. To the best of
anyone’s recollection, this is the first port
authority employee to die" on the job, Mr. Schwartz
said. "The people at the airport are very tight
anyway, and to lose one of their own, they’re
devastated."

Mr. Bergeon, who’d worked at the airport since 1997,
was one of 15 maintenance workers. He was a 1988
graduate of Swanton High School, married, and had
three children.

Normally, the federal Occupational Health and Safety
Administration investigates workplace accidents. But
because Mr. Bergeon was a government employee, the
Worker Safety Division of the state Department of
Commerce is investigating.

Pieter Wykoff, Department of Commerce spokesman, said
a preliminary report probably wouldn’t be available
for a week or more. "Until the investigator gets in
there and does his report, it’s too early to tell if
mistakes were made," he said.

Airport police are involved in the investigation but
did not return calls seeking comment.


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