OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #686519
BRAKE,UNTRAINED,SWEEPER,OVERTURN
Event description
DROVE SWEEPER MACHINE OFF DOCK
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEE #1 WAS OPERATING AN AMERICAN LINCOLN SWEEPER, THREE WHEEL, MODEL #578-4 LOCATED NEXT TO THE ACCELERATOR PEDAL. THE BRAKE WAS TO BE USED MAINLY FOR PARKI NG, BUT COULD ALSO BE USED, IN AN EMERGENCY, TO STOP THE UNIT. USE OF THE BRAKE COULD HAVE PREVENTED THIS ACCIDENT. SHE LATER STATED THAT THE ACCELERATOR PEDAL STUCK IN THE FORWARD POSITION. SHE DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO STOP THE SWEEPER BECAUSE S HE DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THE BRAKE PEDAL. SHE HAD BEEN OPERATING THE SWEEPER FOR APP ROXIMATELY ONE MONTH PRIOR TO THE ACCIDENT. 07, SN 443804. SHE WAS SWEEPING THE FLOOR OF A RAILROAD DOCK WHEN SHE LOST CONTR OL OF THE UNIT, STRUCK THE CONVEYOR SYSTEM, THEN ROLLED BACKWARD OFF THE DOCK. T HE SWEEPER OVERTURNED AND LANDED ON TOP OF HER. SHE WAS INJURED. SHE HAD BEEN TR AINED TO OPERATE THE SWEEPER ACCORDING TO THE MANUFACTURERS RECOMENDATIONS. THE ACCELERATOR PEDAL CONTROLLED ALL MOTIONS OF THE UNIT, INCLUDING STOPPING. WHEN T HE PEDAL WAS TILTED FORWARD, THE UNIT MOVED AHEAD. WHEN TILTED BACK, THE SWEEPER MOVED IN REVERSE. WHEN THE PEDAL WAS RELEASED, THE UNIT WOULD SHIFT TO NEUTRAL AND STOP WITHIN 3 FEET. SHE HAD NOT BEEN TRAINED IN THE USE OF THE BRAKE PEDAL,
Victim
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 27 F
- Nature of injury
- 12
- Part of body
- 23
- Event type
- 5
- Source
- 30
- Occupation code
- 856
- Human factor
- 14
- 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.