OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14262562
BURN,ELECTRIC ARC,E GI III,RECEPTACLE,ELECTRICAL,ATTACHMENT PLUG,ELECTRICAL FAULT
Event description
ELECTRIC ARC BURNS - SHORT AT WELDER PLUG
Investigation abstract
AN EMPLOYEE WAS INSERTING A GENERAL ELECTRIC FLEX-PLUG PORTABLE WELDER DISCONNEC G IN A DEAD SHORT. T (CATALOG NO. NC410ED4) RATED 100 AMPERES INTO A RECEPTACLE LOCATED IN A BUS DU CT RISER (480 VOLTS, 600 AMPS). THE BUS DUCT RISER HAD RECEPTACLES ON THE FRONT AND THE BACK, BUT AN I-BEAM NEXT TO IT OBSTRUCTED THE FRONT ONE. SINCE THERE WAS NO GRATING OR FLOORING BEHIND THE BUS DUCT, THE EMPLOYEE HAD TO SIT ON A GUARDR AIL AND REACH AROUND AT ARMS LENGTH TO CONNECT THE PLUG. WHEN HE INSERTED THE PL UG INTO THE RECEPTACLE, THERE WAS AN ARC, AND HE RECEIVED BURNS TO HIS FACE AND NECK. ALTHOUGH THE RECEPTACLES ARE DESIGNED TO ACCEPT THE PLUGS ONLY THE PROPER WAY, IT APPEARS THAT THE PLUG WAS PERMITTED TO MAKE CONTACT UPSIDE DOWN RESULTIN
Victim
-
#1 Non-hospitalized injury Age 24 M
- Nature of injury
- 5
- Part of body
- 9
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 15
- Occupation code
- 503
- Human factor
- 14
- Environmental factor
- 18
- 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.