An Elevator Mechanic Helper Died When He Was Crushed in an Escalator While Performing Maintenance

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  California Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program (CA/FACE) ; California. Department of Health Services. Occupational Health Branch
• Description:
  A 37-year-old male elevator mechanic helper died when he was crushed in an escalator as he was performing maintenance. The victim had removed the escalator stairs and was standing inside the mechanism of the escalator when the power suddenly came on. The stairs began moving before the victim could get out and before the power could be turned off. There were no locks or tags on the controls that supply the electrical power to the escalator. The disconnect switch at the circuit panel that fed power to the elevator had not been locked and tagged out. The power came on when a co-worker dropped the electrical circuit box, triggering a relay that started the escalator's movement. There was a mechanical blocking device on the escalator to stop movement during maintenance, but it was not used. The CA/FACE investigator determined that, in order to prevent future occurrences, employers, as part of their Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) should: 1. Ensure employees follow company policy and procedures on lockout/tagout. 2. Ensure workers do not move electrical escalator equipment when all or part of someone is inside the escalator mechanism. 3. Ensure employees block mechanisms from moving prior to performing repairs or maintenance.
• Content Notes:
  Publication Date provided by FACE program
  
  not printed on the report.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Electricity Maintenance Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety Safety Management Workplace
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Electrical-safety Electrical-systems Injuries Injury-prevention Machine-guarding Maintenance-workers OSHA Region 9 Protective-equipment Protective-measures Safety-education Safety-equipment Safety-measures Safety-monitoring 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/NIOSHSFACE01CA009
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  8 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20027288
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2007-111174
• 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 01CA009, 2002 May ; :1-8
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2002
• Performing Organization:
  California Department of Health Services
• 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-512:359e12fd9c32e5136f5ff9c025689c7cb5352c3091155a7f6cf90a730fa15edacd3e889a8739afe716d4b3a996fa94f7c8ed206e48c5caa903b1154236b08c98
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/168944/cdc_168944_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 183.18 KB ]