OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14563357
HEAD,MAINTENANCE,STEPLADDER,LADDER,FALL
Event description
FALL FROM LADDER
Investigation abstract
ON JULY 6,1984, AT ABOUT 4:15 PM, EMPLOYEE #1 WAS FOUND FACE DOWN ON THE FLOOR I DRAIN LINE. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS ASSIGNED TO PICK UP A DUMPLING CUTTER AT A LOCAL MAC HINE SHOP. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS THE MAINTENANCE SUPERVISOR. HE WOULD OFTEN LEAVE THE PLANT TO PICK UP PARTS AND SUPPLIES. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS NOT MISSED FOR ABOUT AN HOU R, SINCE HE WORKED WITHOUT DIRECT SUPERVISION. WHEN THE VICE PRESIDENT BEGAN TO LOOK FOR EMPLOYEE #1, THE MAINTENANCE PERSONNEL THOUGHT HE WAS AT THE MACHINE SH OP. THE MACHINE SHOP WAS CALLED, BUT EMPLOYEE #1 HAD NOT BEEN THERE. THE VICE PR ESIDENT AND OTHER SHOP PERSONNEL BEGAN TO SEARCH THE PLANT. THEY FOUND EMPLOYEE #1 IN THE FREEZER, DEAD. N THE PLANT STORAGE FREEZER. HE WAS DEAD FROM HEAD INJURIES. THERE WERE NO WITNE SSES TO THE ACCIDENT. THE AVAILABLE EVIDENCE POINTS TO THE FOLLOWING SCENARIO: E MPLOYEE #1 HAD BEEN USING A 10 FOOT STEPLADDER TO REACH A FROZEN DRAIN LINE ON R EFRIGERATION UNIT FIVE. THE UNIT IS 13 FEET ABOVE THE FLOOR. EMPLOYEE #1 HAD PUT A HEAT TAPE ON THE DRAIN LINE AND HAD WRAPPED IT WITH INSULATION. THE JOB WAS F INISHED AND THE LADDER WAS STILL IN PLACE UNDER THE FREEZER UNIT. EMPLOYEE #1 HA D NOT BEEN ASSIGNED TO CORRECT THE PROBLEM. THE COMPANY VICE PRESIDENT HAD TOLD EMPLOYEE #1 THAT HE WOULD CALL THE REFRIGERATION SERVICE COMPANY TO CORRECT THE
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 49 M
- Nature of injury
- 6
- Part of body
- 13
- Event type
- 5
- Source
- 25
- Occupation code
- 503
- Human factor
- 14
- Environmental factor
- 13
- 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.