OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #735068
BLANCHARD MACHINERY CO.
WEST COLUMBIA, SC·
Event description
Employee killed when struck by hinge pin in explosion
Investigation abstract
Employee #1 was helping a coworker remove a hinge pin from the front of a Caterp illar Traxcavator front end loader in order to remove the bucket. Three of the f our pins came out, but the left hinge pin would not come out. The employees used a drift--a chisel with a blunt end--and a hammer to no avail. They then used a gas torch with a rosebud to heat the pin and placed a hydraulic press between th e brackets to apply pressure. An explosion occurred, dislodging the pin, which s truck Employee #1 on the left side of the face and head. He died of a massive ce rebral contusion two days later.
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 26 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 13
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 43
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 5
- 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.