OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14197602
MAINTENANCE,ROBOT,WELDING,LOCKOUT,NIP POINT,UNGUARDED,LEG,MACHINE--MISC,PUNCTURE
Event description
RIGHT LEG CAUGHT IN WELDING LINE (ROBOT) APPARATUS
Investigation abstract
A machine operator was working at an operating station for a Hitachi robotic wel rotruding rods, which would signal the computer to begin the welding operation. At that point, the lifting arm would rise, and a robotic arm would move out from the operator's side of the machine to weld the frame pieces. After a few second s' delay, the robotic arm would return to its home position, and the lifting arm would lower to its home position, ready for the next piece. During the course o f this operation, the welding line would be shut down intermittently so that emp loyees could lubricate the welding tips on the robot arms to prevent material bu ild up. The operator, without telling anyone else or shutting down the machine, tried to perform the lubrication with the machine still in automatic mode. She t hought she could finish lubricating the welding tips during the small delay. The ding machine. She had been trained and had been working on the machine for about employee did not complete the task in time, as she had anticipated. Her right l eg was located between the protruding rods on the lifting arm and the openings t he rods rest in, and the rods trapped her leg. When other employees were alerted , they had trouble trying to switch the line to manual because the computer was trying to complete it's function and because the lifting arm was trying to retur n to its home position. One employee used a crowbar to help relieve pressure on the injured employee's leg, and another operated the solenoid enabling the lifti ng arm to rise. The machine operator received two puncture wounds in the thigh ( requiring stitches) and abrasions to the lower leg. She was hospitalized for her injuries. 2 months. The machine welded 3.05-meter lengths of steel used to construct the underbody frame of General Motors vans. The machine could be run manually or in automatic, computer-run mode. The metal rails moved along the machine until they reached a lifting arm, which was the full width of the line. Two protruding rod s, each approximately 13 centimeters long, fit into small openings in each end o f the lifting arm when it was at the home position. When the rails to be welded were resting on the lifting arm, the pressure would be transferred through the p
Victim
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 19 F
- Nature of injury
- 18
- Part of body
- 23
- Event type
- 2
- Source
- 26
- Occupation code
- 653
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 2
- Task assigned
- 1
Codes shown verbatim from OSHA's accident-investigation database. A human-readable decoder is coming in a future release once the accident_lookup2 dictionary is loaded.