OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #712133

AVALANCHE,WORK RULES,UNSTABLE SURFACE,STRUCK BY,SLOPE

1989-02-19T00:00:00

Event: AVALANCHE,WORK RULES,UNSTABLE SURFACE,STRUCK BY,SLOPE
Linked inspection: No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number: 712133
Report ID: 1054111

Event description

Employee killed in avalanche

Investigation abstract

Employee #1 and two coworkers were extending a bamboo rope line that closes off a gulch blowhole. Employee #1 made a decision to ski-cut the area. He skied alon g the starting zone, just below the top edge of the slope, for about 100 ft. He then stopped, kickturned, and skied the fall line to the bottom of the slope, ma king three short turns. As he was making his third turn and coming to a stop, th e snow up the slope released. Employee #1 was at the bottom of the gully and was knocked down from behind by the avalanche. He was killed.

Victim

#1 Fatality Age 33 M

Nature of injury
21

Part of body
4

Event type
2

Source
42

Occupation code
999

Human factor
1

Environmental factor
18

Task assigned
1

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