OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #707364
WORK RULES,SAFETY BELT,CONSTRUCTION,SHAFT,LANYARD,FALL,FALL PROTECTION
Event description
WORKER FELL INTO SHAFT; WAS WORKING WITHOUT FALL PROTECTION
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEE #1, AN INSULATOR MECHANIC, AND HIS HELPER HAD BEEN INSULATING WATER PIP ND HIS HELPER WENT TO THE 12TH FLOOR. THE EMPLOYEES WHO HAD BEEN DOING THE ACTUA L INSULATING WORK CONTEND THAT THE NIGHT MAINTENANCE SUPERVISOR FOR B, G & E HAD INSISTED, ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS, THAT ALL THE PIPES BE INSULATED, EVEN IF THEY H AD TO ENTER THE SHAFTS TO DO SO. EMPLOYEE #1 TOLD THE B, G & E SUPERVISOR THAT H E HAD BEEN INSTRUCTED NOT TO WORK INSIDE THE SHAFTS, BUT THE MAINTENANCE SUPERVI SOR STILL INSISTED THAT THEY DO SO. FINALLY, EMPLOYEE #1 SAID HE WOULD GO BACK I NSIDE THE SHAFT JUST TO GET THE MAINTENANCE SUPERVISOR "OFF HIS BACK". EMPLOYEE #1 WENT INTO THE SHAFT ON THE 12TH FLOOR LEVEL, WITHOUT A SAFETY BELT OR LANYARD . AFTER INSULATING SOME PIPES HE SENT HIS HELPER TO THE WORK TABLE TO CUT SOME I NSULATION. HE DECIDED TO CLIMB OUT OF THE SHAFT, BUT SLIPPED AND FELL AS HE WAS ES LOCATED IN SHAFTS ON ALL 21 FLOORS OF THE BALTIMORE GAS & ELECTRIC COMPANY HE TRYING TO GET OUT. HE FELL, HEAD FIRST, INTO THE SHAFT, WEDGING HIMSELF BETWEEN THE PIPES AND SOME DUCTWORK. THE OTHER EMPLOYEES TRIED TO RESCUE HIM, BUT ONLY C AUSED HIM TO FALL FURTHER INTO THE SHAFT. AFTER BEING STUCK IN THE SHAFT FOR A H ALF HOUR, THE OTHER EMPLOYEES FINALLY CALLED THE FIRE DEPARTMENT. THE FIRE DEPAR TMENT WAS ABLE TO RESCUE HIM. HE WAS TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL AND TREATED FOR BRUIS ES, SCRAPES, LACERATIONS, A SLIGHT CONCUSSION AND EFFECTS FROM BEING UPSIDE DOWN FOR AN EXTENDED PERIOD. HE WAS RELEASED LATER THAT NIGHT. HE LOST FOUR DAY'S WO RK. ADQUARTERS. EMPLOYEE #1 STATED THAT HE HAD, ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS, WORKED INSIDE THE SHAFTS WITHOUT WEARING ANY FALL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT, SUCH AS A SAFETY BELT OR LANYARD. HE WAS AWARE THAT THE COMPANY HAD SOME SAFETY EQUIPMENT IN THE HOME OFFICE. HE HAD VOICED HIS CONCERN TO HIS EMPLOYER ABOUT GOING INSIDE THE SHAFTS, AND HAD BEEN INSTRUCTED NOT TO DO ANY MORE WORK INSIDE THE SHAFTS. ON THE DAY O F THE ACCIDENT, EMPLOYEE #1 AND HIS HELPER WERE WORKING THE SECOND SHIFT (BEGINN ING AT 6 PM). AFTER WORKING AT ANOTHER LEVEL, THEN TAKING A BREAK, EMPLOYEE #1 A
Victim
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 25 M
- Nature of injury
- 3
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 5
- Source
- 42
- Occupation code
- 495
- Human factor
- 10
- 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.