Fatality Narrative: Operator Struck by Hay Press Guillotine Blade

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Washington (State). Department of Labor and Industries
• Description:
  A 39-year-old hay press operator died when he was struck by the machine's guillotine blade. The victim had worked for 1 ½ years for his employer, a grower, processor, and a wholesale seller of hay forage. He worked in the hay processing plant where he operated a hay press that compressed field baled and loose hay into high density bales for shipping. On the day of the incident, the victim had been operating the hay press as usual. Near the end of his shift, the plant supervisor asked the victim and two other employees to get the machine ready for maintenance. They started cleaning up by manually placing a few bales onto the conveyor, which had been stopped, and pushing them along toward the scale. The victim was responsible for locking out the equipment, but he did not do this. During normal operation, a conveyor moved hay into the covered area of the scale. When the hay reached the correct weight, a guillotine blade would slice off the section of hay before it was moved along by conveyor to be compressed. The victim crawled into the covered area where the scale was located and started to push a bale through to clear the area. His supervisor and coworkers did not notice him get into the machine. As he was lying on the scale, the steel guillotine blade activated and struck him, resulting in near decapitation. Incident investigators found out through interviews with employees that the victim had on a number of occasions exposed himself and others to unsafe conditions by not following proper procedures for lock out/tag out of the hay press. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Education Farmers Mortality Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety Staff Development Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Accident Prevention Equipment Maintenance Equipment Operation Equipment Operators Equipment Reliability Farm Workers Fatalities Hazards Protective Equipment Protective Measures Safety Education Safety Equipment Safety Measures Safety Practices Training Traumatic Injuries Work Environment Workers Worker Safety

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• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Publisher:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 10 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20052718
• Citation:
  Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 71-174-2018, 2018 Aug; :1
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2018
• Performing Organization:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Fatality narrative: operator struck by hay press guillotine blade
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:5adb4aced85a51bdc8cd2e8e352876223b7be209b5b5dbf7f63824f263d9bbe7da89c2536c8e39b920bddfec9bbf9fce7f8ba1e88be86e2133e04a4f2634fbe1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/228875/cdc_228875_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 586.54 KB ]