OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14211908
BURN,CLOTHING,ELECTRIC ARC,ELECTRICAL,E GI VII,FIRE,SMOKE,ELECTRICAL FAULT,SWITCHGEAR,SMOKE INHALATION
Event description
BURN - ELECTRICAL FAULT IN SWITCHGEAR CABINET
Investigation abstract
An inspector was en route to make a routine die check on a Bliss machine press. olt, 3000-ampere, three-phase switchgear assembly was manufactured by Square D C ompany, and it had been installed about 15 years before the accident. The employ er had provided extensive safety training on a regular basis. As he passed a dead-front switchgear cabinet, it began making banging noises. An electrical fault in the cabinet and the ensuing electric arc blew a hole about 255 millimeters in diameter out of the lower left side of the cabinet. The flyin g hot metal debris ignited the employee's coat, causing minor facial burns and f irst- and second-degree burns to his arms and to one of his legs. A second emplo yee was changing the die on the press when the fault occurred. He was about 4.6 meters away from the cabinet at the time. He suffered mild smoke inhalation. Bot h employees were hospitalized for their injuries. The six-circuit-breaker, 480-v
Victims (2)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 34 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 2
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 16
- Occupation code
- 689
- Human factor
- 14
- Environmental factor
- 5
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Hospitalized Age 34 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 28
- Event type
- 8
- Source
- 16
- Occupation code
- 706
- Human factor
- 14
- Environmental factor
- 7
- 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.