Photo: TERRI GONZALEZ / UAW LOCAL 9699

JCIM worker Roy Pierce has Rapid Response team to thank

When you’re having a bad day, sometimes it’s hard to count your blessings. But what if your day is so bad that you barely escape it alive? Roy Pierce had one of those days.

One day in October 2009, the 57-year-old UAW Local 9699 member and maintenance technician at Johnson Controls Interior Manufacturing (JCIM) in Port Huron, Mich., was doing his rounds at the plant.

“I was doing preventative maintenance on (an injection molding) machine and checking mercury relays with an amp meter,” said Pierce. “I put the meter down to grab the tag off the machine.”

That’s when his bad day started.

“My right hand hit one of the power sources of the relay. I had grounded myself to the machine with my hand and head, and it completed the circuit. That’s when 240 volts of electricity went through me. A regular household outlet is 120 volts by comparison. I felt the shock going through me for a second or two; my whole body vibrated and shook. Then I passed out,” Pierce said.

He fell, suffered a concussion and got nine staples in his head to close a wound.

Pierce didn’t know at the time that he wasn’t alone.

One of those who rushed to his side was his co-worker of 14 years, Steve Gofton.

The 46-year-old Local 9699 member and JCIM maintenance technician has been part of a Rapid Response team at the company since 1994. The team is a group of workers at the plant who are trained by the local fire department to respond to a variety of emergencies from oil leaks and fires to hazardous materials situations and medical emergencies.

“[When Roy was electrocuted], I was doing my regular maintenance when I heard over the public address system, ‘Action Team, press 23!’ I was only a few presses down,” said Gofton, “so I turned down the aisle and saw everyone running to the press. I leaned over and saw Roy on the floor.”

He performed CPR, including chest compressions, until an ambulance arrived.

“I was just trying to save my friend’s life,” Gofton said.

“All I knew was that Roy was on the floor and we had to help him. I’m just happy my friend is alive.”

So is Pierce.

“I feel lucky that I’m still alive. My nephew is a cop, and he says he’s seen three people electrocuted, and none has lived. So, I guess I feel pretty lucky. It beats being dead,” he said.

Gofton credits the Rapid Response team with playing a major role in saving Pierce.

“Every workplace should have a team,” he said. “In the UAW we’re all working together as a team, and here we’re also a team, one unit.”

At press time Pierce was home recuperating and getting medical treatment for severe headaches, dizziness and exacerbated heart problems.

But he remains grateful for the quick-thinking response of co-workers like Gofton from the Rapid Response team.

“It’s good he was there and knew what to do,” Pierce said. “This is a great thing to have. The more people know how to do things like CPR, the better off everybody is.”

Joan Silvi