OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14469274
OVERHEAD GUARD,CRUSHED,INDUSTRIAL TRUCK,MECH MAT HANDLING
Event description
LOAD ON FORKLIFT FELL BACKWARD
Investigation abstract
TWO EMPLOYEES, AN OPERATOR AND A HELPER, WERE ASSIGNED TO LOAD A TRACTORTRAILER Y PUSHING THEM WITH THEIR FEET WHILE THE OPERATOR TRIED TURNING THE STEERING WHE EL. THE HELPER LOOKED UP TO TELL THE OPERATOR THAT WHAT THEY WERE DOING WOULD NO T WORK. AT THE SAME TIME HE OBSERVED THE TOP BUNDLE SLIDING IN THE DIRECTION OF THE OPERATOR, WHO HAD RAISED HIS ARMS IN AN ATTEMPT TO STOP THE BUNDLE. THE OPER ATOR ATTEMPTED TO JUMP FROM THE FORKLIFT. THE LOAD STRUCK HIM AND TEETERED ON TH E STEERING WHEEL AS THE OPERATOR FELL TO THE GROUND. THE FORK LIFT WAS NOT PROVI DED WITH A VERTICAL EXTENSION TO THE CHAIR BACK OR AN OVERHEAD GUARD. WITH A CLARK FORK LIFT TRUCK, SERIAL # CY60-215-2078-270 MADE IN 1965 OR 1966. T HERE WERE 15 BUNDLES OF 3/8" X 4' X 8' TONGUE ANDGROOVE PLYWOOD; 44 SHEETS IN EA CH BUNDLE, WEIGHING APPROXIMATELY 3,100 LBS. TWO BUNDLES WERE HAULED AT A TIME. THE FIRST LOAD WAS PICKED UP AND HAULED TO THE TRACTOR TRAILER. THE OPERATOR HAD TO MANEUVER THE FORK LIFT IN ORDER TO UNLOAD THE BUNDLE AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLE TO THE BULKHEAD ON THE TRAILER. IN DOING SO THE STEERING WHEELS ENTERED A POTHOLE (30" X 42" X 1 1/2"). WHEN THE OPERATOR FREED THE WHEELS THEY LOCKED WITH THE CO UNTEWEIGHTS. THE HELPER AND THE DRIVER OF THE TRAILER TRIED TO FREE THE WHEELS B
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 52 M
- Nature of injury
- 12
- Part of body
- 5
- Event type
- 2
- Source
- 27
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 12
- Environmental factor
- 8
- 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.