OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14542518
THE FIRESTONE TIRE AND RUBBER COMPANY
ALBANY, GA—
Event description
STRUCK BY FALLING PALLETS OF TIRES
Investigation abstract
A FORKLIFT OPERATOR WAS USING A YALE FORKLIFT TO STACK PALLETS OF TIRES IN THE W THER INJURIES. THE FORKLIFT OPERATOR HAD NOT RECEIVED PROPER TRAINING. HE HAD NE VER RECEIVED A COPY OF THE COMPANY'S "SAFE PROCEDURES" FOR OPERATING A LIFT TRUC K. ALSO, FOOT TRAFFIC WAS ALLOWED IN THE IMMEDIATE VICINITY OF FORKLIFT OPERATIO NS. STAND-UP TYPE LIFTS, WHICH THE COMPANY ALSO USED, WERE MORE MANEUVERABLE, SH ORTER IN LENGTH, AND COULD REACH HIGHER. THE DESIGN OF THE PALLET ASSEMBLY DID N OT OFFER STABILITY TO THE LOAD. AREHOUSE. THE FORKLIFT WAS A SIT-DOWN TYPE LIFT, 10 FEET, 3 INCHES IN LENGTH. TH E AISLEWAYS IN THE WAREHOUSE WERE APPROXIMATLEY 8 FEET, 3 INCHES WIDE, WITH PALL ETS OF MATERIAL STACKED ON BOTH SIDES. THE PALLET ASSEMBLIES WERE 5 FEET BY 5 FE ET, WITH SOME METAL FRAMEWORK WHICH MADE THEM 5 FEET HIGH. THE PALLETS WERE NORM ALLY STACKED 4 HIGH. THE FORKLIFT OPERATOR WAS TRYING TO PLACE 2 PALLETS ON TOP OF 2 OTHERS. THE LOAD APPARENTLY STRUCK THE NEXT ROW OF PALLETS, KNOCKING THE 2 TOP PALLETS OFF THAT ROW INTO INTO THE AISLEWAY, WHERE EMPLOYEE #1, A TIRE INSPE CTOR, WAS STANDING. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS KILLED. HE SUSTAINED A FRACTURED SKULL AND O
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 33 M
- Nature of injury
- 12
- Part of body
- 13
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 7
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 6
- 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.