OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14470439

EDWIN L HEIM CO

SHIREMANSTOWN, PA— 1984-10-11T00:00:00

Event: DIGGER-DERRICK, OVERHEAD POWER LINE, ELECTRICAL, BOOM, ELECTROCUTED, E C
NAICS: 000000
Inspection type: Referral
Activity number: #604926
Employer profile: EDWIN L HEIM CO
Summary number: 14470439
Report ID: 316700

Event description

ELECTRIC SHOCK - CONTACT WITH OVERHEAD LINE THRU BOOM

Investigation abstract

AN EMPLOYEE WAS OPERATING A PITMAN DIGGER DERRICK. THE EQUIPMENT FAILED, AND THE BOOM STRUCK A 66-KILOVOLT OVERHEAD POWER LINE. THE EQUIPMENT FAILURE OCCURED IN THE ROTATION GEAR BOX WHERE TWO AND ONE-HALF TEETH SHEARED OFF THE PINION GEAR. THE ADJUSTMENT BOLTS AND CAP BOLTS HAD NOT BEEN ADJUSTED OR TIGHTENED AS SUGGES TED BY THE MANUFACTURER, AND THIS MAY HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE FAILURE. THE EMPLO YEE OPERATING THE TRUCK AT GROUND LEVEL SUFFERED SEVERE ELECTRIC SHOCK AND SUBSE QUENTLY DIED.

Victim

#1 Fatality Age 50 M

Nature of injury
10

Part of body
4

Event type
6

Source
15

Occupation code
859

Human factor
12

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.