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 #14503171

CHEST,FRACTURE,LADDER,CONSTRUCTION,LACERATION,FALL,WORK PLATFORM,AERIAL LIFT,CONTUSION,INATTENTION

Event
CHEST,FRACTURE,LADDER,CONSTRUCTION,LACERATION,FALL,WORK PLATFORM,AERIAL LIFT,CONTUSION,INATTENTION
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14503171
Report ID
729700

Event description

EMPLOYEES ON ELEVATED WORK PLATFORM FELL WHEN PLATFORM FELL

Investigation abstract

EMPLOYEES #1 AND #2 WERE INSTALLING PIPING 25 FEET ABOVE FLOOR LEVEL AT A NEW AU A SERIES OF VIOLENT TILTS, JERKS, SLAMS, BOUNCES, ETC., THROWING BOTH WORKMEN AR OUND THE PLATFORM, INTO EACH OTHER AND THE GUARD RAIL SYSTEM SURROUNDING THE WOR K PLATFORM, AND FINALLY SLAMMING THEM TO THE FLOOR OF THE WORK PLATFORM. EMPLOYE E #1 SUSTAINED FATAL MASSIVE CHEST INJURIES. EMPLOYEE #2 SUFFERED LACERATIONS, C ONTUSIONS AND FRACTURES. EMPLOYEE ERROR AND MECHANICAL FAILURE OF THE SCISSORS W ERE CITED AS CAUSES OF THE ACCIDENT. TOMOBILE MANUFACTURING PLANT IN KANSAS CITY, KANSAS. THEY WERE WORKING ON AN "UP RIGHT" FLYING CARPET I AERIAL LIFT. AS THEY LOWERED THE PLATFORM, A LADDER ATTAC HED TO THE BOTTOM OF THE LIFT CONTACTED AND HUNG UP ON AN OVERHEAD CONVEYOR. WHE N THE LADDER HUNG UP, THE LIFT STOPPED DESENDING AND THE SCISSORS AT ONE END OF THE LIFT CAME LOOSE FROM ITS SOCKETS, SEPARATING THE SCISSOR MECHANISM FROM THE BASE. THEN THE LIFT PLATFORM TILTED AND THE LADDER BROKE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE LI FT PLATFORM. WHEN THE LADDER BROKE, THE WORK PLATFORM FELL TO FLOOR LEVEL. DURIN G THE FALL, THE LADDER REPEATEDLY HUNG UP AND BROKE FREE OF OBSTACLES, CREATING

Victims (2)

  1. #1 Fatality Age 46 M

    Nature of injury
    21
    Part of body
    5
    Event type
    6
    Source
    24
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    14
    Environmental factor
    18
    Task assigned
    1
  2. #2 Hospitalized Age 43 M

    Nature of injury
    12
    Part of body
    16
    Event type
    6
    Source
    24
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    14
    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.