105,313Records 71,083Employers 85,290Hospitalizations 27,770Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-10-31
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14379168

FRACTURE,HEAD,HIGH PRESSURE,MULTIPIECE RIM WHEEL,STRUCK BY,FLYING OBJECT

Event
FRACTURE,HEAD,HIGH PRESSURE,MULTIPIECE RIM WHEEL,STRUCK BY,FLYING OBJECT
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14379168
Report ID
524500

Event description

STRUCK BY FLYING WEDGE FROM MULTIPIECE RIM WHEEL

Investigation abstract

EMPLOYEE #1 WAS REMOVING A SPLIT RIM TIRE ASSEMBLY FROM A SEMITRAILER AXLE. HE H AD LOOSENED THE LUG NUTS, AND WAS TAPPING THE WEDGE TO LOOSEN IT WHEN THE SPLIT RIM ON THE TIRE BEHIND THE ONE BEING WORKED ON FLEW OFF. ONE OF THE WEDGES WAS P ROPELLED WITH GREAT FORCE TOWARD EMPLOYEE #1. HE WAS STRUCK IN THE FOREHEAD. THE TIRE ALSO CAME OFF, STRIKING HIM IN THE CHEST. HE WAS FLUNG SIDEWAYS AND LANDED ON THE TIRE. THE EMPLOYEE WAS KILLED BY THE WEDGE, WHICH CRUSHED HIS FOREHEAD.

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 67 M

    Nature of injury
    12
    Part of body
    13
    Event type
    1
    Source
    29
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    5
    Hazardous substance
    8880
    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.