Maintenance Man Dies After Being Drawn Into 17½-Inch-Diameter Positive Pressure Intake Pipe–Virginia

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program
• Description:
  The case of a 38-year-old maintenance man who died after being sucked into a positive pressure vacuum pipe at a paper processing facility was examined. The worker was attempting, with the help of two coworkers, to replace a malfunctioning blower on a vacuum line with a pressure of 3,740 pounds per square inch. Wood chips were transported in the vacuum line over a distance of 300 yards from the milling process into the paper manufacturing facility. The blower was located 10 feet above ground and accessed by a steel grate walkway. The malfunctioning blower had been removed. As the workers began preparing to replace the blower, the victim walked in front of the 17.5-inch open pipe. His chest was immediately pulled against the pipe opening. Two coworkers attempted to pull him away from the pipe, but his body was doubled over backwards and dragged 38 feet into the pipe. The cause of death was massive trauma. It was recommended that comprehensive, written task specific hazardous energy control procedures for each phase of a maintenance operation be prepared and that all workers be completely trained in the operation, that a job site survey be conducted to identify potential hazards and implement appropriate controls, and that employers encourage dialogue and discussion among rotating shift workers so that all are familiar with all hazards.
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Maintenance Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention FACE-92-39 Maintenance-workers Occupational-hazards OSHA Region 3 Traumatic-injuries
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Machine (All) ; Machine - Manufacturing ; Prevention through Design (PtD)
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  NIOSH (In-House)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHFACE9239
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Virginia ; OSHA Region 3
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  3 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00219202
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB94-173234
• Citation:
  Morgantown, : U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1993
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  56 - Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1992/08/30
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:81489cac12d19c6c758c29fe29067571b611040186b9dc653207b32676adb973bd512ac35318c5b2aee636e6498ef793b6bee09fa9d39c258098dd77a195a8ae
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/167478/cdc_167478_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 278.67 KB ]