OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14348072
CHEST,FRACTURE,SHEAR,HYDRAULIC CYLINDER,BEARING,BOLT,HIGH PRESSURE,STRUCK BY,FLYING OBJECT,INATTENTION
Event description
One employee killed, one injured by projectile bearing
Investigation abstract
At approximately 6:30 a.m. on September 16, 1988, Employee #1 was testing a hydr aulic cylinder in a test stand. When he inadvertently turned on an air control s witch at the operator's control panel, air was introduced into the rod end of th e cylinder. The intensified pressure built up until the rod-bearing retainer bol ts sheared, causing the bearing and bearing retainer to become a projectile that struck Employee #1 on the left arm, breaking it above the wrist. The bearing an d bearing retainer traveled another 25 feet and struck Employee #2, a bystander, on his chest, killing him instantly.
Victims (2)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 27 M
- Nature of injury
- 12
- Part of body
- 2
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 6
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 17
- Environmental factor
- 5
- Hazardous substance
- 8880
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Fatality Age 21 M
- Nature of injury
- 12
- Part of body
- 2
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 6
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 17
- Environmental factor
- 5
- Task assigned
- 2
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.