OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #570929

BUCYRUS ERIE CO

SOUTH MILWAUKEE, WI— 1985-07-26T00:00:00

Event: UNSECURED, RAILROAD CAR, CRUSHED, STRUCK BY, FALLING OBJECT, UNSTABLE LOAD
NAICS: 000000
Inspection type: Accident-driven
Activity number: #1275965
Employer profile: BUCYRUS ERIE CO
Summary number: 570929
Report ID: 523400

Event description

EMPLOYEE STRUCK BY CASTING WHICH FELL FROM RAIL CAR

Investigation abstract

EMPLOYEE #1, A SWITCHMAN, WAS STANDING IN FRONT OF A FLAT CAR (#8112), WHICH WAS LOADED WITH CASTINGS. A LOCOMOTIVE WAS PUSHING TWO FLAT CARS (INCLUDING #8112) SOUTHWARD AT APPROXIMATELY 3-4 MPH. THE TOPCASTING ON THE SOUTHERNMOST TIER BEGA N ROCKING. THE EMPLOYEE THEN GAVE THE SWITCHMAN THE SLOW-DOWN SIGNAL. THE SPIDER GEAR CASTING SLID OFF THE PILE AND FELL OFF THE RAIL CAR. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS STRUC K AND CRUSHED BY THE SPIDER GEAR. CAUSAL FACTORS: 1. UNSECURED CASTINGS ON FLAT RAILROAD CARS WERE STORED IN TIERS AND TRANSPORTED OVER TRACK KNOWN TO BE DETERI ORATED TRACK. 2. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS ALLOWED TO STAND IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO THE RAIL CAR WITH AN UNSTABLE LOAD.

Victim

#1 Fatality Age 42 M

Nature of injury
3

Part of body
5

Event type
1

Source
38

Occupation code
999

Human factor
4

Environmental factor
6

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.