OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14498679

H. O. MOHR & ASSOCIATES

HOUSTON, TX· 1986-04-29T00:00:00

Event: ELECTRICAL, E GI VII, ELECTROCUTED, ATTACHMENT PLUG, GROUND FAULT, ELEC EQUIPMENT--MISC
NAICS: 000000
Inspection type: Accident-driven
Activity number: #101076735
Employer profile: H. O. MOHR & ASSOCIATES
Summary number: 14498679
Report ID: 626600

Event description

ELECTRIC SHOCK - GROUND FAULT IN INDUCTION HEATER

Investigation abstract

AN EMPLOYEE WAS WORKING IN AN ENGINEERING FIRM'S TEST LAB. HE WAS SETTING UP A 4 80-VOLT INDUCTION HEATER (PALMER INDUSTRIAL HEATING EQUIPMENT, MODEL NUMBER 5543 , SERIAL NUMBER C43) TO HEAT SOME BEARINGS. HE WAS HOLDING A METAL THERMOCOUPLE PROBE IN ONE HAND. HE THEN GROUNDED HIMSELF THROUGH EITHER THE METAL CORD GRIP O N A 120-VOLT FLEXIBLE CORD OR THE METAL THERMOCOUPLE READOUT BOX. THE THERMOCOUP LE WAS LYING ON TOP OF THE INDUCTION HEATER. BECAUSE THE GROUNDING CONDUCTOR FOR THE HEATER WAS MISWIRED IN THE THREE-PHASE PLUG TO ONE OF THE CIRCUIT CONDUCTOR S, THE FRAME OF THE HEATER WAS ENERGIZED AT 277 VOLTS TO GROUND. THE EMPLOYEE WA S ELECTROCUTED.

Victim

#1 Fatality Age 37 M

Nature of injury
10

Part of body
4

Event type
13

Source
15

Occupation code
999

Human factor
1

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.