OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #887901
MT. AIRY COLD STORAGE
MOUNT AIRY, MD·
Event description
Employee injured in fall from elevator dock area
Investigation abstract
On April 26, 1989, Employee #1 was using an electric forklift to load a trailer next to it. As the yard man began pulling away from the dock, he heard a noise a t the rear of the trailer. Unbeknownst to him, Employee #1 was loading #545 and, when the trailer moved, the forklift fell to the ground. The employee also fell , sustaining bruises and abrasions to his back and right elbow. He was taken to a local hospital, where he was treated and released, returning to work the next day. No apparent violations of OSHA standards were found. In an effort to preven t a reoccurrence of the accident due to human error, the employer is purchasing and installing computer operated docklocks for use of the trailers. with pallets of frozen french fries. The employer receives frozen food in a rail road warehouse and, in turn, loads it for shipment via tractor trailer. There ar e nine dock doors used for trailers. The forklift operators are required to choc k a trailer, load it, and turn a release form in to the control office. A yard m an, who works solely outside moving and controlling trailer activity, then takes the form and moves the trailer to a parking apron for pickup. On the day of the accident, the yard man received a form for trailer #645. He proceeded to hook h is tractor to what he believed was the #645, but which was actually #545 parked
Victim
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 43 Male
- Nature of injury
- Bruise/Contus/Abras (3)
- Part of body
- MULTIPLE (19)
- Accident type
- RUBBED/ABRADED (7)
- Source of injury
- MATERIALS HANDLG EQ. (27)
- Occupation
- Miscellaneous material moving equipment operators (859)
- Human factor
- MISJUDGMENT, HAZ. SITUATION (1)
- Environmental factor
- MATERIALS HANDLG EQUIP./METHOD (8)
- Task assigned
- Task regularly assigned (1)
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.