OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14499602
CHEST,LATHE,IMPALED,ROTATING SHAFT,STRUCK BY,FLYING OBJECT,UNGUARDED
Event description
EMPLOYEE IMPALED BY FLYING AIR NOZZLE COUPLER
Investigation abstract
ON JUNE 7, 1985, EMPLOYEE #1 WAS WORKING AT A VARIABLE SPEED HAMMOND POLISHING B RED BECAUSE A PORTION OF THE LATHE SHAFT WAS LEFT UNGUARDED, IN VIOLATION OF 191 0.219(C)(2)(I), AND THE EMPLOYER ALLOWED THE PRACTICE TO EVOLVE OF DRAPING THE A IRLINE OVER THE LATHE. THE LATHE WAS A NEWLY MANUFACTURED UNIT, PURCHASED IN JAN UARY, 1985. ELT LATHE, MODEL 7-ROHW-C. HE WOULD HOLD CASTINGS TO BE POLISHED AND THEN CLEAN THEM BY BLOWING COMPRESSED AIR ON THEM. AFTER CLEANING THE CASTINGS, HE WOULD DR APE THE AIRLINE OVER THE POLISHING LATHE. THIS PRACTICE DEVELOPED BECAUSE OF THE POSITIONING OF THE AIRLINE (BEHIND THE MACHINE). THE ACCIDENT OCCURRED BECAUSE VIBRATION CAUSED THE AIRLINE TO WORK ITS WAY DOWN TO AN UNGUARDED 3 INCH LENGTH OF THE HORIZONTAL SHAFT, WHERE IT BECAME ENTWINED IN THE SHAFT. THE SHAFT, ROTAT ING AT 1500 RPM, QUICKLY SHEARED THE AIRLINE AND SENT THE COUPLING INTO THE EMPL OYEE'S CHEST AT A SPEED OF APPROXIMATELY 325 FEET PER SECOND. THE ACCIDENT OCCUR
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 20 M
- Nature of injury
- 18
- Part of body
- 5
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 26
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 11
- Environmental factor
- 13
- 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.