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 #14470876

E GI V,ELECTRICAL,ELECTROCUTED,ATTACHMENT PLUG,GROUND FAULT,EQUIPMENT GROUNDING,ELEC EQUIPMENT--MISC

Event
E GI V,ELECTRICAL,ELECTROCUTED,ATTACHMENT PLUG,GROUND FAULT,EQUIPMENT GROUNDING,ELEC EQUIPMENT--MISC
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14470876
Report ID
524200

Event description

ELECTRIC SHOCK - GROUND FAULT IN ELECTRIC HAND BUFFER

Investigation abstract

AN EMPLOYEE WAS USING A METAL-FRAMED PORTABLE BUFFING MACHINE TO WAX A CAR. THE BUFFING MACHINE WAS NOT GROUNDED--THE BLADE FOR THE EQUIPMENT GROUNDING CONDUCTO R ON ITS ATTACHMENT PLUG WAS MISSING. THE EMPLOYEE WAS WEARING WET CLOTHING AS H E WAS WORKING. WHILE HE WAS USING THE BUFFER, THE EMPLOYEE RECEIVED AN ELECTRIC SHOCK. HE WAS TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL, WHERE HE DIED 22 DAYS LATER (JULY 24, 1986) .

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 27 M

    Nature of injury
    10
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    13
    Source
    15
    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.