OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14500078
WISCONSIN THERMOSET MOLDING, INC.
MILWAUKEE, WI·
Event description
ELECTRIC SHOCK - DIRECT CONTACT WITH ENERGIZED PARTS
Investigation abstract
AN ELECTRONICS REPAIRER WAS PERFORMING MAINTENANCE ON A RADIO-FREQUENCY PREHEATE R, WHICH WAS BEING USED IN A THERMOSET MOLDING PROCESS. THE PREHEATER UNIT WAS S UPPLIED BY A 230-VOLT, THREE-PHASE CIRCUIT THAT HAD BEEN TRANSFORMED AND RECTIFI ED TO 3000/6000 VOLTS DC AT 200 MILLIAMPERES. THE INTERLOCKED SIDE PANELS OF THI S UNIT WERE REMOVED, AND THE SAFETY INTERLOCKS WERE BYPASSED SO THAT THE UNIT WO ULD REMAIN ENERGIZED. THE EMPLOYEE THEN REACHED INTO THE AREA BY THE POWER TUBE TO CHECK THE AIR FLOW AROUND THE TUBE. HE CONTACTED ENERGIZED PARTS AND RECEIVED AN ELECTRIC SHOCK. HE WENT INTO VENTRICULAR FIBRILLATION, AND PARAMEDICS WERE N OT ABLE TO REVIVE HIM. THE EMPLOYEE DIED OF ELECTROCUTION.
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 21 M
- Nature of injury
- 10
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 13
- Source
- 15
- Occupation code
- 533
- Human factor
- 9
- 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.