OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14387120
UNITED STATES COATING COMPANY
MELROSE PK, IL—
Event description
FALL FROM WATER TOWER
Investigation abstract
ON NOVEMBER 29, 1984, AT APPROXIMATELY 3 PM, EMPLOYEE #1 WAS WORKING ON A LARGE WATER TOWER (STANDPIPE). HE FELL TO HIS DEATH WHEN THE LANYARD WHICH SECURED HIS SAFETY BELT TO A LIFELINE "ROLLED OFF" THE ROPE-GRAB CONNECTING DEVICE. THE PAI NTER WAS USING A DBI INDUSTRIES LANYARD WITH SINGLE- ACTION SAFETY SNAP HOOKS WH ICH WERE SECURED TO BOTH ENDS OF A 36 INCH NYLON ROPE. THE OPENING IN THE EYELET ON THE ROPE-GRAB DEVICE WAS LARGE ENOUGH, AND THE RING THIN ENOUGH, TO ALLOW TH E SINGLE ACTION SNAP-HOOK TO OPEN AND DISENGAGE, ALLOWING THE EMPLOYEE TO FALL.
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 25 M
- Nature of injury
- 12
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 5
- Source
- 8
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 12
- Environmental factor
- 13
- 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.