OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14516173
THROAT,DISINTEGRATED,CONSTRUCTION,SAW,BLADE,UNGUARDED
Event description
MASONRY SAW BLADE DISINTEGRATED; STRUCK EMPLOYEE IN THROAT
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEE #1 WAS USING A GASOLINE POWERED MASONRY SAW TO CUT A PIECE OF STEEL OUT , ARBOR SIZE 1 INCH. THE BLADE PROBABLY DISINTEGRATED BECAUSE IT WAS NOT DESIGNE D FOR THE HIGHER RPM, CAUSING IT TO WOBBLE AND BE ABNORMALLY STRESSED. OF A CONCRETE FLOOR. WHEN IT CAME TIME TO CHANGE THE BLADE, EMPLOYEE #1 COULD N OT FIND THE PROPER SIZE REPLACEMENT BLADE. HE DECIDED TO USE A BLADE FOR A LARGE R, WALKING MASONRY SAW. SINCE THE REPLACEMENT BLADE WAS TOO BIG FOR HIS SAW, HE HAD TO REMOVE THE SAW GUARD TO ACCOMODATE THE BLADE. SHORTLY AFTER HE RESUMED US E OF THE SAW, THE BLADE DISINTEGRATED, WITH SOME OF THE PIECES STRIKING HIM IN T HE THROAT. HE WAS KILLED. THE SAW WAS A WACKER POWERCUT, MODEL BTS 11, MAX RPM 5 100, BLADE SIZE 12 INCH, ARBOR SIZE 7/8 INCH. THE BLADE WHICH DISINTEGRATED WAS A BULLARD ABRASIVE PRODUCTS INC. MASONRY BLADE, MAX RPM 4366, BLADE SIZE 14 INCH
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 47 M
- Nature of injury
- 18
- Part of body
- 20
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 21
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 5
- 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.