OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #963728
EYE,TUNNEL,CEMENT POWDER,SAND,AIR SHAFT,CONSTRUCTION,PRESSURE PIPING,PIPE,FACE,WATER
Event description
GROUT MIXTURE HIT FACES AND EYES WHEN PIPE COMES APART
Investigation abstract
On October 12, 1989, Employees #1 and #2 were working in a tunnel at the bottom of a shaft, which was approximately 70 ft deep and 1700 ft long. Employees #1 an d #2 were using the 4-in. polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe to grout around the tunn el pipe. At the time of accident the pipe was being cleaned out by a coworker wh o was at the top of the shaft. When the pressurized air was sent through the pip e the pipe came apart near the tunnel entrance. The tunnel was 6 ft in diameter. Employees #1 and #2 were standing near the tunnel entrance when the pipe above their heads came apart at the coupling and a grout mixture of sand, water and ce ment hit them in their faces and eyes.
Victims (2)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 30 M
- Nature of injury
- 11
- Part of body
- 8
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 2
- Occupation code
- 588
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 5
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Hospitalized Age 43 M
- Nature of injury
- 11
- Part of body
- 8
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 2
- Occupation code
- 588
- 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.