OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14520605
LEFTON IRON AND METAL CO.
EAST ST. LOUIS, IL·
Event description
ELECTRIC SHOCK - CONTACT WITH LIVE PARTS THRU WIRE CUTTERS
Investigation abstract
TWO EMPLOYEES HAD BEEN WORKING MOST OF THE DAY TO REPAIR A CRANE. THIS PARTICULA DISCONNECTING MEANS. WHEN THE EQUIPMENT OPERATOR LEFT THE SHED, THE MAINTENANCE SUPERVISOR (JOKINGLY) ASKED WHY THE OPERATOR HAD DEENERGIZED THE CIRCUIT AS THEY WERE JUST GETTING STARTED. THE OPERATOR WENT BACK INTO THE SHED AND REENERGIZED THE CIRCUIT, ASSUMING THAT THE MAINTENANCE CREW WAS GOING TO WORK OVERTIME. THE OPERATOR HAD WALKED ABOUT 20 FEET WHEN THE MAINTENANCE SUPERVISOR PICKED UP A P AIR OF WIRE CUTTERS AND CUT INTO THE ENERGIZED CONDUCTORS. THE SUPERVISOR WAS EL ECTROCUTED. R REPAIR REQUIRED THEM TO PERFORM A WELDING OPERATION. BECAUSE THE WELDING MACHI NE AT THE SITE WAS INOPERABLE, ANOTHER WAS BROUGHT IN BY TRUCK. THE MAINTENANCE SUPERVISOR (AN ELECTRICIAN BY TRADE) USED THE CONDUCTORS FROM THE INOPERABLE WEL DING MACHINE TO MAKE A TEMPORARY SPLICE TO ENERGIZE THE NEW WELDER. AT THE END O F THE DAY, ANOTHER EMPLOYEE, WHO WAS OPERATING EQUIPMENT THAT WAS PERMANENTLY CO NNECTED TO THE SAME CIRCUIT AS THE TEMPORARY WELDING CIRCUIT, DEENERGIZED THE PO WER TO THE EQUIPMENT HE WAS OPERATING. THE EQUIPMENT OPERATOR DID NOT KNOW THAT THE TEMPORARY WELDING CIRCUIT WAS CONNECTED TO THE LOAD SIDE OF HIS EQUIPMENT'S
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 48 M
- Nature of injury
- 10
- Part of body
- 12
- Event type
- 13
- Source
- 15
- Occupation code
- 503
- Human factor
- 11
- Environmental factor
- 8
- 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.