OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14511737
U. S. POSTAL SERVICE
WACO, TX·
Event description
STRUCK AND FATALLY CUT BY AIR CONDITIONER FAN BLADES
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEE #1, A MEMBER OF THE POST OFFICE MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT, HAD BEEN GIVEN THE JOB OF REPLACING V-BELTS ON A ROOFTOP AIR CONDITIONER. HE WAS WORKING ALONE. HE DID NOT LOCK OUT POWER TO THE AIR CONDITIONER. WHEN THE ENERGIZED UNIT SUDDE NLY STARTED UP, THE FAN BLADES STRUCK HIM, INFLICTING FATAL CUTS. HE APPARENTLY BLED TO DEATH. HIS BODY WAS DISCOVERED THE NEXT DAY AT 11:15 AM. THE EMPLOYEE HA D DONE THIS TYPE OF WORK SEVERAL TIMES BEFORE. THE AIR CONDITIONER FAN BLADES WE RE 45 1/2 INCHES LONG.
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 52 M
- Nature of injury
- 7
- Part of body
- 20
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 26
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 13
- Environmental factor
- 3
- 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.