Fall or jump curtailed by personal fall arrest system · Asphyxiations, strangulations, suffocations
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Electric Boat, 75 Eastern Point Road, GROTON, CONNECTICUT 06340
on — Asphyxiations, strangulations, suffocations, affecting the bODY SYSTEMS.
Final narrative
During a fall protection training session, an employee was choked unconscious from the fall protection system.
A 6-foot piece of steel weighing approximately 1,300 pounds was being hoisted, when it slipped from the rigging and fell from approximately 8 feet, striking a machine and then striking an employee in the leg. The employee's leg was fractured.
A painter working in the sonar dome of a submarine was power washing in a confined space when they fell three levels (approximately 20 feet) through a 2' x 4' access hole. The employee lost consciousness and suffered a contusion to the back of the head and pneumonia from inhaled water.
After performing a welding operation inside of a tank, an employee was exiting the tank when his leg caused a welding lead to short against the side of the tank and an electric arc occurred. His leg was burned, requiring hospitalization.
An employee had put a pipe in a vise and was adjusting the flange to insert a ring into the unit. The unit slipped from the vise; as the pipe fell and the employee tried to grab it, the vise pinched the employee's finger. He suffered a fingertip amputation on his left hand.
An employee was walking along a trench inspecting the trench box in the excavation when he tripped and fell toward the trench. As the employee was falling head-first into the trench, he attempted to get a hold of the fall protection cable. The cable then looped around his left hand and the employee fell approximately 8 feet into the trench before the fall protection engaged. The employee suffered amputations of his left index, middle, ring, and little fingers.
A ranger was performing back-country patrol duties while hiking. As they were climbing a technical rock patch, a rock handhold broke, causing the employee to fall approximately 15 feet before their belay engaged. The employee contacted a rock, resulting in a fracture to the right ilium as well as a subcutaneous hematoma to the right gluteal region.
Employees were erecting structural steel. The injured employee was sitting on a 12" wide horizontal member and lining up an I-beam brace as it was suspended by an overhead crane. He leaned left to push the end of the brace. The end of the suspended brace swung away from him, causing him to lose balance and fall 8 feet. His personal fall arrest system arrested his fall, but he swung into a piece of duct work during the fall that resulted in a concussion.
On September 12, 2022, an employee was on a metal roof, installing a standing seam and insulation. He lost his balance and fell toward the third floor slab, which was 10 feet from the roof. His fall protection caught him and left him suspended about 2 to 4 feet from the slab. He suffered a brain bleed and a spinal fracture in his lower back. He was hospitalized.
An employee was working from a bucket lift, removing a tree in sections. He lost his balance while pushing on a section and fell. His fall protection caught him and he swung into a tree, suffering an injury that caused head, neck, and leg pain, as well as loss of consciousness while he was at the hospital.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 336611)
An employee was hooking up bundled tie-downs with a chain. While he was holding a hook, the other hook was unlocked. This caused the employee's hook to slide down and pinch his right index finger between the chain and the shackle. He suffered an amputation to the fingertip (without bone loss), as well as an open fracture.
An employee was preparing to bend a flat bar in a brake press. When the machine was jogged, the stock rotated up and crushed his left middle fingertip against the outer frame of the die. The fingertip was amputated.
An employee was cutting metal with a torch. A piece of metal struck the employee's left foot, causing multiple fractures to metatarsal(s). The employee was hospitalized.
An employee was descending a ladder carrying a bag of trash. He fell, landed on the ground about 10 feet below, and suffered fractures to his right hip and pelvis.
An employee was checking on a machine outside of the building and removed a cover to clean out a blocked area. His hand was caught by a rotary valve in a dust collection machine. The employee's fingertip was amputated.
An employee was working to clean a glue roller with a scraper tool. The tool and the employee's left thumb were pinched between two rollers, resulting in a partial amputation.
An employee was re-arranging boxes of pipe insulation on a pallet. One of the boxes fell from the pallet and knocked over an upright empty cylinder. The cylinder fell and crushed the tip of the employee's right toe. The employee's toe required surgical amputation.
An employee was securing the claw of a grapple truck to the truck bed. His left little finger was caught between the tie down strap and the rub rail of the truck, resulting in partial amputation of the finger.
An employee was cutting extruded aluminum framing material using a horizontal band saw. She went to grab a rag in the machine when the rag contacted the blade and pulled her hand in toward the blade, resulting in a partial amputation of the right index finger.