OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14516215
E GI V,RECEPTACLE,ELECTRICAL,ELECTROCUTED,WELDER,ATTACHMENT PLUG,EQUIPMENT GROUNDING
Event description
ELECTRIC SHOCK - DEFECTIVE ATTACHMENT PLUG
Investigation abstract
A NEW RECEPTACLE HAD BEEN INSTALLED IN A MANUFACTURED HOUSING PLANT TO ACCOMMODA CONNECTED AND MOVED THE WELDING MACHINE SO THAT THEY COULD SWEEP THE AREA. WHEN THE WELDING MACHINE WAS RECONNECTED, THE PLUG WAS ROTATED SO THAT THE GROUNDING BLADE WAS INSERTED INTO THE SLOT FOR ONE OF THE CIRCUIT CONDUCTORS, ENERGIZING T HE FRAME OF THE WELDING MACHINE. WHEN THE WELDER CONTACTED THE FRAME OF THE WELD ING MACHINE TO TURN IT ON, HE WAS ELECTROCUTED. TE A PORTABLE ARC WELDING MACHINE. HOWEVER, A 208-VOLT RECEPTACLE WAS INSTALLED INSTEAD OF THE 480-VOLT RECEPTACLE THAT WAS NECESSARY. THE FIRST WELDER TO USE T HE OUTLET NOTICED THAT THE PLUG WOULD NOT FIT THE RECEPTACLE, AND A MAINTENANCE WORKER "REMEDIED" THE PROBLEM BY USING WIRE CUTTERS TO CLIP THE ENDS OF THE 480- VOLT PLUG ON THE WELDING MACHINE'S SUPPLY CORD. AFTER THIS MODIFICATION, THE ATT ACHMENT PLUG WOULD FIT INTO THE RECEPTACLE, AND THE WELDING MACHINE WAS USED IN THIS MANNER FOR ABOUT 10 DAYS. THEN, ONE SUNDAY, A MAINTENANCE CREW CAME INTO TH E PLANT TO DO SOME OVERTIME WORK. BEFORE ANY WELDING WAS PERFORMED, THE CREW DIS
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 23 M
- Nature of injury
- 10
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 13
- Source
- 15
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 9
- 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.