OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #704064

FRACTURE,HEAD,OVERHEAD GUARD,CRUSHED,INDUSTRIAL TRUCK,NECK,STRUCK BY,OVERTURN,UNSTABLE LOAD

1987-02-20T00:00:00

Event: FRACTURE,HEAD,OVERHEAD GUARD,CRUSHED,INDUSTRIAL TRUCK,NECK,STRUCK BY,OVERTURN,UNSTABLE LOAD
Linked inspection: No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number: 704064
Report ID: 352420

Event description

FORKLIFT OPERATOR KILLED WHEN FORKLIFT FELL OVER

Investigation abstract

EMPLOYEE #1 WAS UNLOADING PVC PIPE FROM A TRUCK LOCATED AT THE EAST END OF A DOC PIPE WHICH WAS BEING LIFTED WAS 2400 POUNDS. EMPLOYEE #1 HAD PLACED THE FORKLIFT FORKS UNDER THE CENTER OF THE LOAD AND WAS BACKING AWAY FROM THE TRUCK WITH THE FORKS RAISED TO A HEIGHT OF 11 FEET. ACCORDING TO THE THE CLERK'S HELPER, THE L IFT OF PIPE APPEARED BALANCED. AS EMPLOYEE #1 WAS BACKING AWAY, WITH THE FORKS R AISED, THE LIFT OF PVC PIPE SLID TO THE RIGHT KNOCKING THE FORKLIFT TO THE LEFT AND CAUSING IT TO TOPPLE OVER. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS STRUCK ACROSS THE HEAD AND NECK B Y THE FORKLIFT'S OVERHEAD GUARD. HIS SKULL WAS FRACTURED AND HIS NECK BROKEN. TH E ACCIDENT OCCURRED ON A BLACKTOPPED SURFACE WHICH SLOPED GENTLY TOWARD THE DOCK . THE FORKLIFT FORKS WERE 29 INCHES WIDE. THE FORKLIFT BOOM WAS CAPABLE OF BEING RAISED TO A HEIGHT OF 14 FEET. EMPLOYEE #1 HAD BEEN EMPLOYED AS A RECEIVING CLE K. THE TRUCK WAS PARKED HORIZONTAL TO A WAREHOUSE AND WAS LOADED WITH 22 LIFTS O RK FOR 10 YEARS. HE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR TRAINING NEW EMPLOYEES IN FORKLIFT OPERA TION. THE EMPLOYEES WERE AWARE THAT PVC PIPE WAS SLIPPERY, ESPECIALLY WHEN WET O R DAMP. F 20 FOOT LONG, ASSORTED SIZES OF PVC PIPE. THE PIPE WAS BANDED WITH THREE METAL AND THREE WOODEN BANDS LOCATED AT EACH END AND IN THE MIDDLE OF EACH LIFT. THE LOAD OF PVC PIPE WAS COVERED WITH SNOW. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE TRUCK, UNLOADING THE FIRST LIFT OF 7 INCH DIAMETER PIPE WHEN THE ACCIDENT OCCUR RED. ANOTHER EMPLOYEE, A CLERK'S HELPER, WAS ON THE YARD FORK LIFT APPROACHING T HE TRUCK BEHIND EMPLOYEE #1. EMPLOYEE #1'S FORKLIFT WAS A CLARK, MODEL #C500-30, SERIAL #235-0087-5590 FA, TYPE LP. IT'S CAPACITY WAS 3000 LBS. THE LOAD OF PVC

Victim

#1 Fatality Age 32 M

Nature of injury
12

Part of body
13

Event type
1

Source
27

Occupation code
364

Human factor
6

Environmental factor
8

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.