OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14235998
TRI DELTA BUILDING MATERIALS INC
LAS VEGAS, NV—
Event description
CAUGHT BETWEEN AUTOMATIC MACHINE AND SIDE OF BUILDING
Investigation abstract
THE MACHINE INVOLVED IN THIS ACCIDENT IS AN AUTOMATED FORK LIFT TYPE MACHINE (CA AUTOMATIC MODE, HE CRAWLED TO WITHIN 10 OR 15 FEET OF THE ENTRANCE. THERE, A CO -WORKER DRAGGED HIM OUT. THIS WORK SITE WAS A GERMAN MADE, TOTALLY AUTOMATED CEM ENT (CINDER) BLOCK PLANT. THE PLANT IS CAPABLE OF TURNING OUT 22,000 BLOCKS PER EIGHT HOUR SHIFT. UNDER NORMAL OPERATIONS, NO ONE HAS TO MOVE THE FINGER TRUCK. HOWEVER, THEY HAD BEEN HAVING PROBLEMS EMPTYING KILNS #1 - 5 FOR A PERIOD OF TIM E, SO THEY HAD BEEN OPERATING THE TRUCKS MANUALLY. THE OPERATOR SUSTAINED MULTIP LE INJURIES, INCLUDING A FRACTURED LEFT FEMUR AND A FRACTURED PELVIS. HE WILL RE QUIRE SURGERY. BETTER CONDITIONS MUST BE PROVIDED TO PROTECT THE OPERATORS WHEN THEY ARE REQUIRED TO OPERATE THE FINGER TRUCKS MANUALLY (FOR EXAMPLE, DEAD MAN C ONTROLS AND/OR SWOOPS). OF THE EMPLOYEES INTERVIEWED, ALL HAD RIDDEN THE MACHINE LLED A "FINGER TRUCK") THAT FEEDS AND EMPTIES BLOCK KILNS. THE MACHINE FAILED TO . ONLY ONE, THE FOREMAN, SAID THAT ANY TRAINING HAD EVER BEEN GIVEN. THE TRAININ G CONSISTED SOLELY OF THE ADMONITION, "DON'T RIDE ON THE OUTSIDE". ALL OF THE RE ST (EXCEPT THE F/L OPERATOR, WHO WAS TOO LARGE) ADMITTED TO ROUTINELY RIDING ON THE EDGE. THERE IS ONLY 11 INCHES OF CLEARANCE FOR A RIDER BETWEEN THE MACHINE A ND THE KILN WALLS. OPERATE PROPERLY IN THE AUTOMATIC MODE, SO EMPLOYEE #1 DECIDED TO OPERATE IT MA NUALLY TO EMPTY THE KILN. AS HE WAS MOUNTING THE MACHINE HE TURNED THE CONTROLS TO "GO". HE SLIPPED, EITHER BECAUSE OF WET GLOVES OR GREASE, FROM THE UPRIGHT BA R. HE FELL, STRIKING THE EDGE OF THE KILN TUNNEL. AS THE TRUCK STARTED, IT SWUNG HIS BODY AROUND, WEDGING IT BETWEEN THE KILN WALL AND THE MOVING FINGER TRUCK. HE WAS DRAGGED APPROXIMATELY 45 FEET INTO THE KILN TUNNEL BEFORE HE BECAME DISLO DGED AND FELL TO THE KILN FLOOR. FEARING THAT THE FINGER TRUCK WOULD GO INTO THE
Victim
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 28 M
- Nature of injury
- 12
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 2
- Source
- 27
- Occupation code
- 766
- Human factor
- 10
- Environmental factor
- 8
- 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.