OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #221467004

SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES CORP.

HAWTHORNE, CA· 2022-01-18T00:00:00

Event: Blunt force, Blunt force trauma, Cover, Electronic Technicn, Falling Object, Fracture, Head, Pneumatic, Pressure, Rocket Motor, Skull, Struck By, Testing, Venting
NAICS: 336411
Inspection type: Accident-driven
Activity number: #345797799
Employer profile: SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES CORP.
Summary number: 221467004
Report ID: 0950635

Event description

Employee suffers head trauma when struck by cover

Investigation abstract

At 12:44 p.m. on January 18, 2022, an employee, an integration technician, was was hospitalized in a coma for months. performing pneumatic pressure checks on a Raptor V2 Engine while at the Integration Stand. The final step in the pressure check operation, venting, was done for the first time using an automated program as opposed to the normal manual method that had been used in previous operations. Immediately after initiating the automated venting, the employee was struck by the fuel controller cover which broke free from the controller module. The controller cover had sheared at the vertical to horizontal beveled seam, liberating the cover face from the assembly. The employee suffered a skull fracture and head trauma and

Victim

#1 Hospitalized Age 39 M

Event type
1

Occupation code
225

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.