OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14457204
HERCULES INC AEROSPACE DIVISION
TEKOI TEST RANGE, UT—
Event description
CRUSHED BY UNSECURED ROCKET MOTOR
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEE #1 WAS MOUNTING A ROCKET MOTOR ONTO A STATIC TEST STAND. THE MOTOR WAS TRANSFERRED INTO THE TEST BAY ON A CRADLE. IT WAS REMOVED FROM THE CRADLE BY TWO ELECTRICALLY OPERATED HYDRAULIC JACKS. THE JACKS WERE CONNECTED, VIA BALL AND P IN CONNECTORS, TO THE ROCKET MOTOR ABOUT 18 INCHES ABOVE FLOOR LEVEL. THE MOTOR WAS THEN BOLTED TO FOUR (4) YOKES AND SHEAR STANDS. THE MOTOR WAS UNHOOKED FROM THE HOIST JACKS BEFORE THE END BLOCKS HAD BEEN INSTALLED. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS UNDERN EATH THE MOTOR, REMOVING THE TEMPORARY TRACKS. THE MOTOR SHIFTED LONGITUDINALLY, TEARING LOOSE FROM TWO STANDS AND BADLY BENDING THE OTHER TWO. THE ROCKET MOTOR THEN DROPPED ONTO EMPLOYEE #1, CRUSHING HIM AGAINST THE SECURING BEAMS.
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 57 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 2
- Source
- 27
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 4
- 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.