OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14503171
U. S. ENGINEERING CO., INC.
KANSAS CITY, KS·
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 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 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.