OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14555064
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CA—
Event description
EMPLOYEE STRUCK BY FLYING ROCK
Investigation abstract
ROAD CREW EMPLOYEES OF YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK WERE CLEARING ROCKS AND SNOW FROM INJURED EMPLOYEE. THE BLAST CONSISTED OF TWO CHARGES OF 10 STICKS EACH OF 60% D YNAMITE, FIRED BY ELECTRIC BLASTING CAPS. ALL BLASTING PROCEDURES AS OUTLINED IN THE YOSEMITE PARK BLASTING MANUAL, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE DISTANCES FROM THE BLAST SITE, WERE BEING FOLLOWED DURING THIS OPERATION. THE DISTANCES TO BE MAIN TAINED FROM THE BLAST SITE ARE LEFT UP TO THE BLASTER IN CHARGE. HE DETERMINED T HAT THE DISTANCES WERE SUFFICIENT TO PREVENT INJURY. HIGHWAY 120 (TIOGA PASS ROAD). THIS OPERATION INVOLVED THE BLASTING OF VARIOUS R OCKS FROM CUTS TO PREVENT THEM FROM SLIDING ONTO THE ROADWAY. A THREE MAN CREW, CONSISTING OF A BLASTER (IN CHARGE) AND TWO EMPLOYEES ACTING AS FLAGMEN, WERE AS SIGNED TO THE WORK. DURING THE BLASTING OF A BOULDER, ONE OF THE FLAGMEN WAS STR UCK IN THE HEAD BY A FLYING ROCK. HE WAS APPROXIMATELY 453 FEET, STRAIGHT LINE D ISTANCE, FROM THE SITE OF THE BLAST, WHICH WAS LOCATED AROUND A CURVE IN THE ROA DWAY. THE BLASTER WAS 341 FEET AWAY, AND THE OTHER FLAGMAN WAS 391 FEET AWAY IN THE OTHER DIRECTION. HE WAS ALSO AROUND A CURVE IN THE ROAD. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS THE
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 52 M
- Nature of injury
- 6
- Part of body
- 13
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 12
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 4
- Environmental factor
- 5
- Hazardous substance
- 8880
- 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.