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 #14520308

BARGE,SLIP,FALL,DROWN,LIFE JACKET,LOST BALANCE,WATER

Event
BARGE,SLIP,FALL,DROWN,LIFE JACKET,LOST BALANCE,WATER
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14520308
Report ID
625700

Event description

EMPLOYEE FELL INTO RIVER AND DROWNED

Investigation abstract

EMPLOYEE #1, A SALT HANDLER, HAD FINISHED UNLOADING ROCK SALT FROM A 50 FOOT BY 190 FOOT HOPPER BARGE. HE BEGAN THE JOB OF "DRAFTING" THE BARGE (MEASURING THE F REEBOARD FROM THE BARGE'S DECK TO SURFACE OF THE WATER). APPARENTLY, AS HE WAS W ALKING ON THE OUTBOARD DECK OF THE BARGE, HE SLIPPED AND FELL INTO THE WATERS OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. ALTHOUGH WEARING A WORKVEST, HE APPARENTLY WAS CAUGHT IN THE UNDERTOW AND SWEPT UNDER THE BARGE. THE BARGE WAS EMPTY, WITH ABOUT 18 INCH ES OF DRAFT. HIS BODY WAS RECOVERED THE NEXT DAY BY THE COAST GUARD, APPROXIMATE LY 75 MILES DOWNSTREAM FROM THE ACCIDENT SITE. THE WORKVEST WAS STILL ON HIM. TH ERE WERE NO EYEWITNESSES TO THE ACCIDENT.

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 29 M

    Nature of injury
    2
    Part of body
    4
    Event type
    4
    Source
    41
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    17
    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.