105,313Records 71,083Employers 85,290Hospitalizations 27,770Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-10-31
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #849448

HEAD,ELEVATOR GATE,WORK RULES,CLEANING,CONSTRUCTION,LOCKOUT,CRUSHED,ELEVATOR,COMMUNICATION

Event
HEAD,ELEVATOR GATE,WORK RULES,CLEANING,CONSTRUCTION,LOCKOUT,CRUSHED,ELEVATOR,COMMUNICATION
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
849448
Report ID
524200

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. #1 Fatality Age 22 F

    Nature of injury
    21
    Part of body
    13
    Event type
    2
    Source
    43
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    4
    Task assigned
    2

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