105,313Records 71,083Employers 85,290Hospitalizations 27,770Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-10-31
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14517924

DUCT,GUARDRAIL,REPAIR,WORK RULES,SAFETY BELT,CONSTRUCTION,FALL

Event
DUCT,GUARDRAIL,REPAIR,WORK RULES,SAFETY BELT,CONSTRUCTION,FALL
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14517924
Report ID
419700

Event description

FELL TO THE BOTTOM OF A VENT DUCT

Investigation abstract

THREE EMPLOYEES WERE PATCHING HOLES INSIDE A 15 FOOT DIAMETER FLUE GAS DUCT. EMP LOYEE #1 LEFT THE ASSIGNED WORK AREA AND MOVED ABOUT 100 FEET TO THE OTHER END O F THE DUCT. THE DUCT MADE A 90 DEGREE TURN TOWARD THE GROUND THERE. HE WENT OVER OR THROUGH A GUARD RAIL AND FELL ABOUT 95 FEET TO THE BOTTOM OF THE DUCT. HE SU STAINED MULTIPLE INJURIES AND WAS KILLED. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS SUPPOSED TO BE WORKING WITH EMPLOYEES #2 AND #3. HE HAD NOT BEEN INSTRUCTED TO MOVE DOWN THE DUCT. SAF ETY BELTS WERE AVAILABLE IN THE DUCT, BUT NOT USED BY EMPLOYEE #1.

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 25 M

    Nature of injury
    12
    Part of body
    13
    Event type
    5
    Source
    8
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    13
    Task assigned
    2

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.