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 #14541957

WORK RULES,CONSTRUCTION,LIGHTNING,STRUCK BY,INATTENTION

Event
WORK RULES,CONSTRUCTION,LIGHTNING,STRUCK BY,INATTENTION
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14541957
Report ID
418100

Event description

One employee killed, one injured when struck by lightning

Investigation abstract

At approximately 3:15 p.m. on June 3, 1987, Employees #1 and #2 were using woode n sledgehammers to drive in foundation stakes for a single-family house. When a thunderstorm approached, they sat in their trucks to wait it out, resuming work once the rain stopped. A second thundercloud suddenly appeared, and a bolt of li ghting struck Employees #1 and #2. A crew that was unloading concrete nearby cam e to their aid. Employee #1, age 18, was killed and Employee #2 was hospitalized . The site of the accident was the highest elevation in a cleared field, with an overlook that was clear for miles.

Victims (2)

  1. #1 Fatality Age 18 M

    Nature of injury
    10
    Part of body
    4
    Event type
    13
    Source
    32
    Occupation code
    869
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    17
    Hazardous substance
    8870
    Task assigned
    1
  2. #2 Hospitalized Age 45 M

    Nature of injury
    10
    Part of body
    4
    Event type
    13
    Source
    32
    Occupation code
    554
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    17
    Hazardous substance
    8870
    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.