105,313Records 71,083Employers 85,290Hospitalizations 27,770Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-10-31
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14257042

PISTON,BROKEN CABLE,CONSTRUCTION,CRUSHED,CONVEYOR,STRUCK BY,FALLING OBJECT

Event
PISTON,BROKEN CABLE,CONSTRUCTION,CRUSHED,CONVEYOR,STRUCK BY,FALLING OBJECT
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14257042
Report ID
453710

Event description

CRUSHED BY FALLING MATERIAL PLATFORM

Investigation abstract

A VERTICAL RECIPROCATING CONVEYOR (PNEUMATIC NEWSPRINT DROP) WAS BEING INSTALLED ES WERE IN THE PROCESS OF PULLING THE PLATFORM DOWN, USING A COME-A-LONG, IN ORD ER TO RAISE THE PISTON INTO THE UPPER CYLINDER SECTION. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS SITTING ON THE CONVEYOR FRAME BESIDE THE PLATFORM GUIDE RAIL AND DIRECTLY UNDER ONE SIDE OF THE PLATFORM. HE WAS GUIDING THE PISTON INTO THE CYLINDER. THE PISTON HAD BE EN RAISED SEVERAL INCHES WHEN THE CABLE STRIPPED FROM THE CABLE CLIPS AT THE PIS TON CONNECTION, RELEASING BOTH THE COUNTERWEIGHT PISTON AND THE PLATFORM. THE PL ATFORM FELL FIVE TO SIX FEET, LANDING ON EMPLOYEE #1. HE WAS CRUSHED UNDER THE P LATFORM. AT A NEWSPAPER PUBLISHING PLANT. THE LOAD PLATFORM OF THE CONVEYOR IS GRAVITY A CTUATED AND IS CONTROLLED BY MEANS OF A 3/4 INCH WIRE ROPE CABLE, IDLER SHEAVES AND A COUNTERWEIGHT PISTON WHICH OPERATES INSIDE A VERTICAL PIPE CYLINDER. TWO U -BOLT CLIPS WERE USED TO FORM EYES AT EACH END OF THE WIRE ROPE WHERE IT WAS ATT ACHED TO THE COUNTERWEIGHT AND THE PLATFORM. THE CYLINDER IS MADE IN TWO SECTION S. THE TOP SECTION OF THE CYLINDER HAD BEEN INSTALLED, THE CABLE ATTACHED TO THE TOP OF THE PLATFORM, EXTENDED UP OVER THE SHEAVES, DOWN THROUGH THE CYLINDER AN D ATTACHED TO THE COUNTERWEIGHT PISTON. AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT, TWO EMPLOYE

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 26 M

    Nature of injury
    6
    Part of body
    4
    Event type
    2
    Source
    27
    Occupation code
    785
    Human factor
    17
    Environmental factor
    6
    Hazardous substance
    8880
    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.