3 Zimmer Employees Hurt in Explosion

Three employees were hurt—one of them severely burned—in an explosion Thursday at a Zimmer Inc. plant in Warsaw, Ind., according to the orthopedic device maker.

A statement released Friday said that Devon “Bud” Garman, a Zimmer employee for 28 years, remains hospitalized in Fort Wayne with burns and is in critical but stable condition, andtwo other employees were treated Thursday but were not hospitalized.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the employees involved and their families,” the company said in a statement. “Zimmer appreciates the cooperation of its employees and local fire and emergency authorities in responding to the fire that occurred in our Building 5 facility Thursday afternoon. The safety of our employees is our first priority and with the commitment of our employees, we have established a very good safety record over many years.”

Zimmer has told employees in Building 5, where the incident occurred, except for those in Maintenance and Buildings & Grounds, not to report to work today. Other employees were asked to report to work on plant restart teams or in other Zimmer facilities, as instructed by their supervisors.

The company and a team of outside specialists are investigating the incident, but no cause for the fire has been determined.