104,543Records 70,659Employers 84,666Hospitalizations 27,563Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-09-30
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14259436

HEAD,WORK RULES,STRUCK BY,FALLING OBJECT,INATTENTION,UNSTABLE POSITION

Event
HEAD,WORK RULES,STRUCK BY,FALLING OBJECT,INATTENTION,UNSTABLE POSITION
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14259436
Report ID
625700

Event description

STRUCK BY FALLING BALE OF COTTON

Investigation abstract

EMPLOYEE #1 WAS WORKING WITH A FORK LIFT OPERATOR, MOVING COTTON BALES IN WAREHO USE "C" AT H.& W. WAREHOUSE INC, LAKE PROVIDENCE, LA. THEY WERE PULLING COTTON B ALES FROM A STACK ON THE MORNING OF FEBRUARY 19, 1985. EMPLOYEE #1 ATTACHED A GA RRETT PULLING ADAPTER TO A BALE SO THE FORKLIFT COULD PULL IT FROM THE STACK. HE FAILED TO MOVE FAR ENOUGH FROM THE STACK TO AVOID A FALLING BALE. A BALE ON TOP OF THE STACK SHIFTED AS A RESULT OF THE FORKLIFT PULLING THE OTHER BALE AND IT FELL, STRIKING EMPLOYEE #1 IN THE HEAD. THE BALE WEIGHED APPROXIMATELY 500 POUND S. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS KILLED.

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 23 M

    Nature of injury
    12
    Part of body
    13
    Event type
    1
    Source
    7
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    4
    Environmental factor
    6
    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.