OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14542096
LARIBEE WIRE INC
CHAMBLEE, GA—
Event description
EMPLOYEE'S HEART PIERCED BY PIECE OF FLYING COPPER WIRE
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEE #1 WAS OPERATING A COPPER WIRE DRAWING MACHINE. THE COPPER WIRE IN USE WAS .0375 INCHES IN DIAMETER. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS STANDING ABOUT 5 FEET FROM THE GUA RDED TAKE-UP REEL, OBSERVING ANOTHER MACHINE. AT THIS TIME, A WIRE BREAK OCCURRE D IN EMPLOYEE #1'S MACHINE. ALL SAFETY DEVICES AND BRAKES FUNCTIONED PROPERLY. A S THE MACHINE WAS BEING BROUGHT TO A STOP, A PIECE OF WIRE LESS THAN A HALF INCH IN LENGTH PIERCED EMPLOYEE #1'S CHEST, PENETRATING HIS HEART AND LUNG. HE DIED AS A RESULT OF INTERNAL BLEEDING. THERE HAD BEEN NO PREVIOUS DIFFICULTIES WITH T HIS TYPE OF EQUIPMENT.
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 24 M
- Nature of injury
- 18
- Part of body
- 5
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 28
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 5
- 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.