Investigation launched after TVA employee dies at West Tenn. plant

BROWNSVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - A man died after an accident at a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) plant in West Tennessee.

On Saturday, Sept. 1, Matt McPherson suffered a serious injury while performing maintenance at the Brownsville Combustion Turbine Plane and was flown to a hospital in Memphis where he later passed away.

McPherson’s daughter said he was attempting to ventilate a faulty natural gas pipe when it burst, causing serious injuries to his head and crushed his left arm. McPherson was

TVA said they are conducting an internal investigation as well cooperating with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to determine what led to the deadly incident.

“We will be relentless in our learning and taking action from this tragedy. We are committed to helping to prevent this type of tragedy from happening again,” TVA released in a statement. “Our TVA family is mourning the loss of a valued leader, mentor, and friend.”

McPherson daugther said he was on a ventilator until his organs could be donated early Sunday morning.