OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14466197
INSTALLING,COLLAPSE,HYDRAULIC JACK,UNSECURED,WORK RULES,OVERLOADED,CONSTRUCTION,CRUSHED,PIPE,UNSTABLE POSITION
Event description
CONSTRUCTION EMPLOYEE CRUSHED TO DEATH UNDER HEAVY PIPE
Investigation abstract
TWO CONSTRUCTION WORKERS WERE USING A HYDRAULIC JACK TO RAISE A 30 INCH CONCRETE SING THE PIPE TO BE PULLED IN THAT DIRECTION. WHEN THE JACK LIFTED THE NEXT SECT ION THE PIPE WAS RELEASED TO MOVE LATERALLY, COLLAPSING ALL THE SUPPORTS WHICH H AD BEEN INSTALLED. A THIRD EMPLOYEE (EMPLOYEE #1) WAS PINNED BETWEEN THE PIPE AN D "T" CONNECTION AND KILLED INSTANTLY. THE HYDRAULIC JACK WAS OVERLOADED AND NOT CRIBBED OR BLOCKED TO MAINTAIN STABILITY. THE 2 BY 4 INSERTS WERE NOT SECURED T O THE SUPPORTS. REINFORCED STEEL PIPE ABOUT 1 1/2 INCHES ABOVE ITS WOODEN SUPPORT SO THAT A CON NECTING VALVE COULD BE INSTALLED ON A "T" JOINT. THE PIPE WAS 99.28 FEET LONG AN D WEIGHED 27,917 POUNDS. BEGINNING AT THE VALVE END, THE TWO WORKERS LIFTED THE PIPE AND INSERTED SECTIONS OF 2 BY 4 BETWEEN THE TOP OF THE SUPPORTS AND THE BOT TOM OF THE PIPE. THEY PROCEEDED DOWN THE LENGTH OF THE PIPE IN THIS MANNER. WITH ABOUT 1/3 OF THE PIPE REMAINING, THEY NOTICED THAT WHEN THEY JACKED UP THE PIPE AT THAT LOCATION THAT THE LAST 2 OR 3 INSERTS THEY HAD INSTALLED NO LONGER WERE IN CONTACT WITH THE PIPE. ALSO, THE LAST 1/3 OF THE PIPE SLANTED DOWNWARDS, CAU
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 41 M
- Nature of injury
- 12
- Part of body
- 5
- Event type
- 2
- Source
- 7
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 11
- Environmental factor
- 4
- 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.