Boeing conducting investigation into employee injury

Boeing officials are conducting an investigation into the injury of one its employees at the North Charleston plant.

On Monday a Boeing employee was injured when he fell from a mobile platform in the composite fabrication area, according to a statement released by Boeing.

The employee was admitted to the hospital for treatment. The employee’s condition is unknown.

“In light of privacy rights for our teammates, we do not comment on their medical status,” said the statement.

Boeing officials said as part of their safety plan and internal procedures, they are conducting an investigation into the incident to determine how it happened, the statement said.

The incident comes as the local plane-making complex is increasing its production rate and beginning to make the stretch Dreamliner model, the 787-9.

The 787 fleet has been grounded since Jan. 16 after a pair of smoky battery malfunctions.

In Dec. 2011 a Boeing contractor spent two days in the hospital after a piece of tooling fell and hit him at the airframer’s North Charleston campus.

It’s not clear how many serious injuries there have been at the plant since its opening.

Boeing is not required to report an incident unless someone dies or three or more people are taken to the hospital. And the more than 6,000-odd workers at the North Charleston campus are not members of a union, which would be another reporting channel.

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