OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14352249
HERCULES INC.
BRUNSWICK, GA·
Event description
WOOD CHIP PILE COLLAPSED ONTO EMPLOYEE; HE SUFFOCATED
Investigation abstract
AT APPROXIMATELY 4:45 AM ON NOVEMBER 17, 1985, EMPLOYEE #1 WAS INSIDE A 30 FOOT BY 50 FOOT BUILDING USED AS A STORAGE BIN FOR WOOD CHIPS. HE WAS USING A STEEL R AKE IN AN ATTEMPT TO DISLODGE CHIPS, WHICH WERE CLINGING TO THE SIDE OF THE BIN. THE CHIPS WERE FED INTO THE BIN ON AN OVERHEAD CONVEYOR, AND TAKEN FROM THE BIN FOR USE AS BOILER FUEL BY A DRAG CONVEYOR LOCATED AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BIN. EMP LOYEE #1 WAS SENT INTO THE BIN TO DISLODGE THE CHIPS BECAUSE THEY WERE NO LONGER FEEDING INTO THE DRAG CONVEYOR. WHILE EMPLOYEE #1 WAS DISLODGING THE CHIPS THEY COLLAPSED ONTO HIM AND BURIED HIM. (THE CHIPS WERE PILED UP 15 TO 20 FEET.) THE EMPLOYEE WAS SUFFOCATED.
Victims (2)
-
#1 Fatality Age 28 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 12
- Source
- 14
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 10
- Environmental factor
- 6
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#981 Degree 0 Age 0
- Nature of injury
- 0
- Part of body
- 0
- Event type
- 0
- Source
- 0
- Occupation code
- 0
- Human factor
- 0
- Environmental factor
- 0
- Task assigned
- 0
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.