OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #849448
DEBORAH ADAMS
CHICAGO, IL·
Event description
Employee killed when elevator crushed head
Investigation abstract
At approximately 11:30 a.m. on June 6, 1989, Employee #1 was wiping paint that h lashes. Her employer, unaware of the work in progress, brought the elevator down from the fifth floor. Employee #1's head was struck and crushed. She was killed . ad dripped into an elevator shaft and onto the sills and wrought iron grating. A can of paint had spilled in the elevator's cab on the top (fifth) floor of an a partment building. The paint and other materials were being taken to an apartmen t for interior decorating work. Employee #1 was on the third floor and opened or had someone open a narrow side gate that was part of the framework of the eleva tor housing alongside the main elevator entrance gate. The side gate was not ele ctrically interlocked with the elevator operation, as was the main gate. Employe e #1 reached into the elevator shaft, then into the opening to wipe the paint sp
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 22 Female
- Nature of injury
- Other (21)
- Part of body
- HEAD (13)
- Accident type
- CAUGHT IN OR BETWEEN (2)
- Source of injury
- OTHER (43)
- Occupation
- Occupation not reported (999)
- Human factor
- MISJUDGMENT, HAZ. SITUATION (1)
- Environmental factor
- SQUEEZE POINT ACTION (4)
- Task assigned
- Task not regularly assigned (2)
Labels are OSHA's own, from the code dictionary published with the accident-investigation file. The raw code is shown beside each one so this page can be reconciled against OSHA's bulk data. OSHA notes that nature of injury, part of body, source of injury and accident type in this file are not coded to the Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System, and that the occupation titles are not standardised — so these values are not directly comparable with the OIICS-coded severe injury reports.