OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #823799
BLOOD CLOT,TELECOM WORK,SLIP,FALL,HIP,AERIAL LIFT
Event description
FALL - LOST GRIP EXITING AN AERIAL LIFT BUCKET
Investigation abstract
DURING A WORK STOPPAGE BY TELEPHONE UNION EMPLOYEES, SUPERVISORS WERE MAKING REP LLED FOR HELP AND LOWERED THE BOOM AS FAR AS IT WOULD GO. WHEN THE BOOM CAME TO REST, IT WAS 6 FEET, 8 INCHES ABOVE A DRIVEWAY IN FRONT OF THE TRUCK, WITH THE B UCKET DOOR FACING FORWARD. THERE WAS A THREE-STEP LADDER INSTALLED ON THE FRONT BUMPER, WHICH WAS JUST TO THE REAR OF THE BUCKET. (UNKNOWN TO THE EMPLOYEE, THE BUCKET HAD AN OPTIONAL FEATURE THAT ALLOWED IT TO BE MANUALLY ROTATED ON A VERTI CAL AXIS BY DEPRESSING A BUTTON RELEASE IN THE CENTER OF THE BUCKET FLOOR. HAD H E DONE SO, THE DOOR OPENING WOULD HAVE BEEN CLOSE ENOUGH TO ALLOW THE EMPLOYEE T O EXIT BY MEANS OF THE LADDER. THIS FEATURE IS NOT FOUND ON ALL AERIAL LIFTS.) A FTER WAITING AWHILE, HE DECIDED TO LOWER HIMSELF TO THE GROUND. HE GRASPED A HOR IZONTAL BAR ON THE INSIDE OF THE OPEN BUCKET DOOR. HE APPARENTLY LOST HIS GRIP A AIRS TO TELEPHONE CABLES ACCORDING TO THEIR SKILLS AS FORMER CRAFT WORKERS. A MA ND FELL ONTO THE DRIVEWAY, LANDING ON HIS LEFT HIP. HE BROKE HIS HIP IN THREE PL ACES. HE HAD SURGERY 2 DAYS LATER. DURING THE NEXT 3 DAYS, A BLOOD CLOT FORMED, FROM WHICH HE DIED ON THE MORNING OF THE THIRD DAY. INTENANCE MANAGER WAS AT THE END OF A 6-DAY TROUBLE CALL ON AERIAL CABLES ON WHI CH HE AND TWO OTHER SUPERVISORS, EACH WORKING INDEPENDENTLY WITH SEPARATE TRUCKS , HAD BEEN WORKING. HE HAD BEEN WORKING WITH HIS TRUCK FOR 12 DAYS AND WAS BASIC ALLY FAMILIAR WITH ITS OPERATION. HIS VEHICLE WAS AN AERIAL LIFT TRUCK WITH A TE LESCOPING BOOM POWERED BY AN AUXILIARY GENERATOR THAT COULD BE STOPPED AND START ED FROM THE AERIAL LIFT BUCKET. THE ONLY EMERGENCY OPERATION AVAILABLE WAS "BOOM LOWER". WHEN HE FINISHED WORKING ALOFT, THE GENERATOR WOULD NOT START, SO HE CA
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 45 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 14
- Event type
- 5
- Source
- 5
- Occupation code
- 527
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 18
- Task assigned
- 2
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.