OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14477681
ETHAN ALLEN INC
BURNHAM, ME—
Event description
STRUCK BY WOOD STOCK WHILE OPERATING SHAPER
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEE #1 WAS USING A RYE TYPE R80 AUTOMATIC SHAPER TO SHAPE THE EDGES OF WOOD K THREW THE STOCK OUT OF THE MACHINE INTO THE OPERATOR. FROM THE LOCATION OF THE TABLE TOP AND THE LOCATION OF INTERNAL DAMAGE TO THE EMPLOYEE IT CAN BE REASONA BLY BE ASSUMED THAT THE EMPLOYEE WAS ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE MACHINE NEAR THE V ALVE WHICH ACTUATED THE HOLD-DOWN CLAMP WHEN HE WAS STRUCK. THE ACCIDENT COULD H AVE BEEN CAUSED BY EMPLOYEE NEGLIGENCE ALONG WITH A LACK OF SAFETY DEVICES. THE EMPLOYEE WAS STRUCK IN THE ABDOMEN, RESULTING IN A LACERATION OF THE LIVER AND T HE VENA CAVA. EN COFFEE TABLE TOPS. DURING THIS OPERATION A COMPLETE CUT REQUIRED A ROTATION O F 540 DEGREES OF THE STOCK. FROM THE MARKINGS ON THE OVAL TABLE TOP WHICH STRUCK THE EMPLOYEE, ONE CAN CONCLUDE THAT THE TABLE TOP HAD ROTATED 360 DEGREES PRIOR TO BEING THROWN OUT OF THE SHAPER. AT 360 DEGREES, THE EMPLOYEE MUST HAVE ASSUM ED THAT THE CUT WAS COMPLETED AND, WITHOUT VISUALLY CHECKING THE REAR OF THE TAB LE TO SEE THAT THE STOP BLOCK WAS IN PLACE WITH THE FOLLOWERS PROPERLY RESTING O N IT, LIFTED THE HOLD-DOWN CLAMP BY USING THE PNEUMATIC CONTROL VALVE. RELEASING THE HOLD-DOWN CLAMP WITH THE CUTTING HEADS STILL IN CONTACT WITH THE UNCUT STOC
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 42 M
- Nature of injury
- 3
- Part of body
- 1
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 26
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 17
- Environmental factor
- 5
- Task assigned
- 2
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.