Sawmill Foreman Dies of Injuries After Legs were Severed by a Saw Blade

Details

• Personal Author:
  Boyle, Debora ; Kerr, Steven ; Parker, David L.
• Corporate Authors:
  Minnesota Fatality Assessment & Control Evaluation Program (MN FACE) ; Minnesota. Department of Health
• Description:
  A 34-year-old male sawmill foreman (victim) died of injuries sustained after his legs were severed by a saw blade. The incident occurred at the location of a log home manufacturing facility while the victim and three co-workers performed a non-routine timber saw maintenance operation. The timber saw consisted of a four-foot diameter saw blade and a metal carriage used to hold and transport logs during the sawing operation. The carriage movement was controlled by a continuous cable system driven by a horizontal rotating drum located slightly forward of the saw blade. Drum rotation moved the carriage forward or backward along the carriage track-way. On the day of the incident, the cable had shifted laterally off of the drum (travelled) during it's use which required maintenance to re-install the cable. The procedure for cable re-installation required manual rotation of the saw blade while the drum transmission mechanism was activated. This allowed the drum to be rotated while the cable was guided back onto it. The victim and co-workers de-energized the saw and locked-out the main electrical power switch. The workers attempted to install the cable by turning the saw blade until the victim decided to reactivate power to the saw. The lock was removed from the main power switch, the electric motor started, and the drum transmission engaged allowing the drum to rotate. The victim positioned himself in the center of the carriage track-way and proceeded to guide the cable onto the drum. When the final portion of loose cable wrapped onto the drum, cable tension was re-established causing the drum to pull the carriage down the track-way towards the victim and saw blade. The victim attempted to move out of the carriage path but was contacted by the carriage which pushed the victim through the saw resulting in the amputation of the victim's legs. MN FACE investigators concluded that to reduce the likelihood of a similar incident, the following activities should be performed: 1. prevent the carriage cable from travelling off of the drum
  
  2. develop and enforce performance of approved maintenance and lock-out/tag-out procedures for cable re-installation
  
  3. design the saw blade and cable drum to operate independently
  
  and 4. install emergency shut-off switches at locations where personnel may be expected to work or perform routine maintenance.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety Safety Management Workplace
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Injuries Injury-prevention Machine-guarding Machine-operation Machine-operators OSHA Region 5 Protective-equipment Protective-measures Safety-education Safety-equipment Safety-measures Safety-monitoring Sawmill-workers Traumatic-injuries Work-analysis Work-areas Work-operations Work-performance Work-practices

  More +
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Machine (All) ; Machine - General
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE95MN005
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Minnesota ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20027459
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2012-110730
• Citation:
  Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, FACE 95MN005, 1995 Jun ; :1-6
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1995
• Performing Organization:
  Minnesota Department of Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  31-33 - Manufacturing - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1991/09/30
• End Date:
  2006/08/31
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b3d98b954c538fc5b9347d32b671d8425b078b4bb412878465b9faae60c718cdb4ae8d7d011538b5e4c431125931de8ecf71317fee17f43c7ebe8060f8d50e1a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/167180/cdc_167180_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 72.88 KB ]