OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14495964

ELECTRICAL,ELECTRIC SWITCH,E GI VII,ELECTROCUTED,CURRENT LEAKAGE,CORROSION,EQUIPMENT GROUNDING

1984-10-25T00:00:00

Event: ELECTRICAL,ELECTRIC SWITCH,E GI VII,ELECTROCUTED,CURRENT LEAKAGE,CORROSION,EQUIPMENT GROUNDING
Linked inspection: No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number: 14495964
Report ID: 627100

Event description

ELECTRIC SHOCK - CORROSION-CAUSED FAULT IN SWITCH

Investigation abstract

A 4-FOOT-BY-8-FOOT ROOM IN A SALT GRINDING BAY HOUSED SWITCHES ALONG ONE WALL. A ENERGIZED THE METAL CABLE TRAY AND THE OTHER THREE SWITCHES. THE EMPLOYEE WAS EL ECTROCUTED AS HE TOUCHED ONE OF THE SMALLER SWITCHES. 5-FOOT SECTION OF METAL CABLE TRAY HAD BEEN MOUNTED THERE; AND, ON TOP OF THE C ABLE TRAY, A MAIN SWITCH HAD BEEN INSTALLED WITH A SHORT METAL NIPPLE. THREE OTH ER SWITCHES WERE ALSO INSTALLED ON TOP OF THE TRAY IN THE SAME MANNER. ALL OF TH E SWITCHES WERE RATED 480 VOLTS, 3 PHASE. BECAUSE OF CORROSION PROBLEMS, THE SWI TCHES WERE SUPPLIED BY CONDUCTORS RUN IN NONMETALLIC CONDUIT. HOWEVER, THE SWITC HES WERE OF THE GENERAL-PURPOSE TYPE, AND CORROSION HAD CAUSED LEAKAGE TO DEVELO P FROM THE CENTER PHASE TO THE SWITCH HANDLE. AN EMPLOYEE MOVED THE HANDLE OF TH E MAIN SWITCH IN THE UP POSITION. BECAUSE THE METAL TRAY WAS NOT GROUNDED, THIS

Victim

#1 Fatality Age 35 M

Nature of injury
10

Part of body
4

Event type
13

Source
15

Occupation code
999

Human factor
6

Environmental factor
9

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.