OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14515217
MERCHANTS REFRIGERATION, INC.
LORAIN, OH·
Event description
ELECTRIC SHOCK - DIRECT CONTACT WITH ENEGIZED PARTS
Investigation abstract
AN EMPLOYEE WAS USING A THERMAL ENGINEERING QUIK-START HERMETIC COMPRESSOR START ER UNIT. THIS IS A 120-VOLT DEVICE TO UNFREEZE COMPRESSOR MOTORS THAT, FOR WHATE VER REASON, FAIL TO ROTATE. THE DEVICE PASSES ELECTRIC CURRENT TO THE MOTOR AND CAPACITOR COMPONENTS UPON ACTIVATION OF A SWITCH ON THE DEVICE. DURING THE TESTI NG OF A COMPRESSOR MOTOR, THE EMPLOYEE APPARENTLY CONTACTED AN ENERGIZED CONDUCT OR RESULTING IN HIS ELECTROCUTION. AN INSPECTION FOUND THE DEVICE TO BE AN UNGRO UNDED TYPE WITH NO PROVISION FOR ASSURING ITS PROPER POLARITY.
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 42 M
- Nature of injury
- 10
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 12
- Source
- 15
- Occupation code
- 534
- Human factor
- 17
- 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.