OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14549547
JOE HILL COMPANY INCORPORATED
KNOXVILLE, TN—
Event description
ELECTRIC SHOCK - ACCIDENTALLY ENERGIZED WELDER FRAME
Investigation abstract
THREE EMPLOYEES WERE LIFTING AN ELECTRIC WELDER WITH A CHAIN HOIST ON A MONORAIL K, CAUSING HIM TO JERK VIOLENTY, WHICH ALLEDGEDLY KNOCKED HIS HARD HAT OFF. HE T HEN FELL BACKWARDS FROM A HEIGHT OF ABOUT 27 INCHES FROM THE FLOOR (HE WAS ON TH E THIRD STEP OF THE STAIRCASE), FRACTURING HIS SKULL IN TWO PLACES. AFTER AN AUT OPSY WAS PERFORMED, THE CORONER STATED THAT CAUSE OF DEATH WAS ELECTROCUTION. SYSTEM. THE EMPLOYEES INTENDED TO LIFT THE WELDER HIGH ENOUGH TO CLEAR A 5-FOOT -HIGH STAIRCASE SO THAT THEY COULD MOVE THE WELDER HORIZONTALLY. EMPLOYEE #1 HAD BEEN INSTRUCTED TO UNPLUG THE WELDER, WHICH HAD AN ATTACHED FLEXIBLE CABLE ABOU T 60 FEET LONG. WHEN HE RETURNED, ONE EMPLOYEE STARTED TO LIFT THE CHAIN HOIST, ANOTHER EMPLOYEE WAS PULLING HORIZONTALLY, AND EMPLOYEE #1 WAS PUSHING. THE LIFT ING, PULLING, PUSHING FORCES ON THE WELDING MACHINE CAUSED THE STILL-CONNECTED 4 40-VOLT FLEXIBLE CABLE TO PULL OUT OF THE CABLE CONNECTOR AT THE MACHINE AND SHO RT AGAINST THE FRAME OF THE MACHINE. EMPLOYEE #1 RECEIVED A SEVERE ELECTRIC SHOC
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 41 M
- Nature of injury
- 10
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 13
- Source
- 15
- Occupation code
- 783
- Human factor
- 4
- Environmental factor
- 18
- 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.