OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14418347

E GI V,ELECTRICAL,SUFFOCATED,GROUND FAULT,EQUIPMENT GROUNDING,ELECTRIC SHOCK,ELEC EQUIPMENT--MISC,VOMIT

1989-09-07T00:00:00

Event: E GI V,ELECTRICAL,SUFFOCATED,GROUND FAULT,EQUIPMENT GROUNDING,ELECTRIC SHOCK,ELEC EQUIPMENT--MISC,VOMIT
Linked inspection: No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number: 14418347
Report ID: 728500

Event description

ELECTRIC SHOCK - GROUND FAULT IN ELECTRIC ROOTER

Investigation abstract

AN EMPLOYEE OF A DRAIN CLEANING FIRM WAS USING A ROTO-ROOTER TO UNCLOG A DRAIN. HIS BODY WAS DISCOVERED LATER--HE HAD APPARENTLY DIED OF SUFFOCATION FROM VOMIT SETTLING IN HIS LUNGS. HOWEVER, ANOTHER FACTOR WAS INVOLVED. THE ROTO-ROOTER HE WAS USING WAS TESTED BY AN ELECTRICAL TESTING FIRM. THE POWER SUPPLY CORD FOR TH E ROOTER WAS OF THE TWO-CONDUCTOR TYPE, WITHOUT AN EQUIPMENT GROUNDING CONDUCTOR . THE ROOTER WAS FOUND TO HAVE A BARE WIRE TOUCHING A POINT NEAR ITS MOTOR, ENER GIZING THE FRAME OF THE ROOTER. THE CORONER DETERMINED THE CAUSE OF DEATH TO BE SUFFOCATION INDUCED BY ELECTRIC SHOCK.

Victim

#1 Fatality Age 32 M

Nature of injury
2

Part of body
4

Event type
13

Source
43

Occupation code
999

Human factor
6

Environmental factor
18

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.