OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14348387
WORK RULES,JAMMED,LOCKOUT,CRUSHED,CONVEYOR
Event description
EMPLOYEE WAS CAUGHT IN CONVEYOR WHEN HE TRIED TO UNJAM IT
Investigation abstract
THE CHAIN-DRIVEN WOOD CHIP CONVEYOR (ESCRO) BECAME JAMMED WITH CHIPS. EMPLOYEE # OR AND INTO A CHIP PILE 15 SECONDS LATER. HE SUFFERED MULTIPLE CRUSHING INJURIES AND DIED. ALTHOUGH ALL OTHER EMPLOYEES DENY ACTIVATING ANY SWITCH, THE CONVEYOR COULD HAVE BEEN ACTIVATED AT THE WALL SWITCH OR AT A SIMILAR SWITCH LOCATED ON THE CONSOLE TO THE NORTH OF THE WALL SWITCH. THE MAIN CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT WAS EMPLOYEE #1'S FAILURE TO LOCK OUT POWER TO THE CONVEYOR. 1 TRIED TO FREE THE JAM BY TURNING THE MACHINE ON AND OFF, USING THE PUSH-BUTTON SWITCH ON THE BASEMENT WALL. THE JAM WOULD NOT CLEAR. THE ON-OFF SWITCH IS LOCA TED 19 FEET FROM THE CONVEYOR. EMPLOYEE #1 DECIDED TO TRY SITTING ON THE ESCRO D RUM AND USING HIS FEET TO CLEAR THE JAM. DESPITE A WARNING FROM EMPLOYEE #2, EMP LOYEE #1 DID NOT LOCK OUT POWER TO THE CONVEYOR BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO UNJAM IT. A T ABOUT 4:45 PM, EMPLOYEE #2 SAW THE CONVEYOR START UP WHILE EMPLOYEE #1 WAS STI LL WORKING ON IT. HE RACED TO THE WALL SWITCH TO STOP IT, BUT WAS UNABLE TO. EMP LOYEE #1 WAS CAUGHT BY THE CONVEYOR, DROPPED THROUGH A CHUTE INTO ANOTHER CONVEY
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 30 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 2
- Source
- 26
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 13
- Environmental factor
- 1
- 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.