OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #975581
MADDEN AUTO SALES AND SALVAGE
LEXINGTON, IN·
Event description
Employee killed when struck by falling 1 1/2 ton magnet
Investigation abstract
At approximately 8:45 a.m. on June 5, 1989, at Madden Auto Sales and Salvage in Blocher, IN, the hydraulic hose (original equipment) on a 17-year-old P&H 312 tr ack backhoe ruptured. All hydraulic pressure to the boom failed instantly. The e ntire boom, and the 1 1/2 ton magnet it was carrying, free-fell and struck Emplo yee #1, age 52. He died instantly of multiple head fractures and wounds, and mul tiple fractures of other body parts. The track backhoe did not have a hydraulic cylinder holding its valves intact, which is current standard safety equipment o n all such units in the industry. Employee #1 should not have been in the area.
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 52 Male
- Nature of injury
- Fracture (12)
- Part of body
- HEAD (13)
- Accident type
- STRUCK BY (1)
- Source of injury
- MATERIALS HANDLG EQ. (27)
- Occupation
- Helpers, mechanics and repairers (864)
- Human factor
- MALFUNC IN SECURING/WARNING OP (4)
- Environmental factor
- OVERHEAD MOVING/FALLING OBJ AC (6)
- 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.