104,543Records 70,659Employers 84,666Hospitalizations 27,563Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-09-30
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14542518

CRUSHED,INDUSTRIAL TRUCK,MECH MAT HANDLING,PALLET,STRUCK BY,FALLING OBJECT,UNTRAINED

Event
CRUSHED,INDUSTRIAL TRUCK,MECH MAT HANDLING,PALLET,STRUCK BY,FALLING OBJECT,UNTRAINED
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14542518
Report ID
418100

Event description

STRUCK BY FALLING PALLETS OF TIRES

Investigation abstract

A FORKLIFT OPERATOR WAS USING A YALE FORKLIFT TO STACK PALLETS OF TIRES IN THE W THER INJURIES. THE FORKLIFT OPERATOR HAD NOT RECEIVED PROPER TRAINING. HE HAD NE VER RECEIVED A COPY OF THE COMPANY'S "SAFE PROCEDURES" FOR OPERATING A LIFT TRUC K. ALSO, FOOT TRAFFIC WAS ALLOWED IN THE IMMEDIATE VICINITY OF FORKLIFT OPERATIO NS. STAND-UP TYPE LIFTS, WHICH THE COMPANY ALSO USED, WERE MORE MANEUVERABLE, SH ORTER IN LENGTH, AND COULD REACH HIGHER. THE DESIGN OF THE PALLET ASSEMBLY DID N OT OFFER STABILITY TO THE LOAD. AREHOUSE. THE FORKLIFT WAS A SIT-DOWN TYPE LIFT, 10 FEET, 3 INCHES IN LENGTH. TH E AISLEWAYS IN THE WAREHOUSE WERE APPROXIMATLEY 8 FEET, 3 INCHES WIDE, WITH PALL ETS OF MATERIAL STACKED ON BOTH SIDES. THE PALLET ASSEMBLIES WERE 5 FEET BY 5 FE ET, WITH SOME METAL FRAMEWORK WHICH MADE THEM 5 FEET HIGH. THE PALLETS WERE NORM ALLY STACKED 4 HIGH. THE FORKLIFT OPERATOR WAS TRYING TO PLACE 2 PALLETS ON TOP OF 2 OTHERS. THE LOAD APPARENTLY STRUCK THE NEXT ROW OF PALLETS, KNOCKING THE 2 TOP PALLETS OFF THAT ROW INTO INTO THE AISLEWAY, WHERE EMPLOYEE #1, A TIRE INSPE CTOR, WAS STANDING. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS KILLED. HE SUSTAINED A FRACTURED SKULL AND O

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 33 M

    Nature of injury
    12
    Part of body
    13
    Event type
    1
    Source
    7
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    6
    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.