OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14384242
SPIELBAUER FIREWORKS CO. INC.
MADISON, WI·
Event description
EMPLOYEE STRUCK IN HEAD BY FIREWORKS SHELL
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEE #1 WAS LIGHTING THE FUSES OF AERIAL DISPLAY SHELLS WHEN HE WAS STRUCK I WHICH BURNED THROUGH THE SHELL CASING AND IGNITED THE DISPLAY BEFORE IT COULD BE SHOT FROM THE MORTAR. THE DISPLAY CHARGE, KNOWN AS A "FLOWER POT", THEN SHOT OU T OF THE MORTAR AT GROUND LEVEL AND STRUCK EMPLOYEE #1. N THE HEAD BY A SHELL FROM A MORTAR. HE WAS THE ONLY SPIELBAUER EMPLOYEE ON THIS CREW. HE WAS IN CHARGE OF THE OPERATION AND HAD 15 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE SHOOTING DISPLAYS. THE MORTARS HAD BEEN TIPPED UPHILL AND INTO THE WIND A FEW (8 TO 10) DEGREES. LIGHTING OF THE FUSE WAS DONE FROM THE UPHILL (AND UPWIND) SIDE. EMPLOY EE #1 WOULD REMOVE THE FUSE CAP, STAND UP, AND THEN LIGHT THE FUSE. THIS TIME HE WAS IN THE TRAJECTORY OF THE SHELL AND WAS STRUCK UNDER THE CHIN. IT IS LIKELY THAT FIRE IGNITED THE "STARS", NOT THE TIME FUSE. ANOTHER SHELL, LIGHTED AT ABOU T THE SAME TIME BUT NOT OBSERVED IN THE SKY, PROBABLY PROVIDED THE HOT MATERIAL
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 33 M
- Nature of injury
- 6
- Part of body
- 13
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 43
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 10
- Environmental factor
- 5
- 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.