OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14349419
WOOD CHIPS,WALL,COLLAPSE,SUFFOCATED,BOILER,FLOWING MATERIAL
Event description
Employee Suffocated by Wall of Collapsing Wood Shavings
Investigation abstract
Employee #1 worked as a fireman. His job was to supply wood shavings to a boiler to make steam. During the week, a drag chain conveyor would take shavings from the fuel house to the boiler. The drag chain conveyor was located in the middle of the floor of the fuel house. On weekends, firemen would enter the fuel house and rake wood shavings to the drag chain conveyor. Stacks of wood shavings along the outside walls could range in height from 7 to 14 feet. On the day of the ac cident, Employee #1 was working about halfway inside the fuel house when a wall of wood shavings collapsed and fell on him. He suffocated.
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 72 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 2
- Source
- 14
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 17
- Environmental factor
- 7
- 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.