Construction Laborer Killed After Being Entangled on a Rotating Directional Drilling Machine Pipe

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  New Jersey Fatality Assessment & Control Evaluation Project (NJ FACE) ; New Jersey. Department of Health and Senior Services. Occupational Health Service
• Description:
  On March 7, 1995, a 28-year-old male construction laborer was killed when his clothing became entangled on a rotating drilling pipe. The incident occurred during a directional drilling operation when a 640-foot-long shaft for a utility pipe was being drilled under a major highway. This process used a specially designed drill rig that drills a horizontal shaft that is directed by the drill operator. In this operation, the shaft started at the drill rig at the side of the road, passed down and under the highway, and was directed upwards until the drill bit emerged from the ground on the opposite side of the highway. The drilling had been completed and the crew was enlarging the shaft by pulling the drilling pipe back and forth through the shaft. The victim and his co-worker were attaching lengths of pipe to the rotating drill pipe as it was pulled back toward the rig. The victim was holding a length of pipe that started to turn as the threads connected. A loose end of his clothing wrapped around the pipe, catching hold and pulling the victim around it, killing him. NJDOH FACE investigators concluded that, in order to prevent similar incidents in the future, these safety guidelines should be followed: 1. Workers should not wear loose clothing when working near moving machinery. 2. Employers should ensure that work crews are in communication at all times. 3. Directional drilling machine manufacturers should consider designing an emergency stop device that can be operated from a remote location.
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Communications Media Construction Industry Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Protective Clothing Safety Safety Management
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-potential Accident-prevention Communication-workers Construction Construction-workers Injuries Injury-prevention OSHA Region 2 Safety-clothing Safety-education Safety-equipment Safety-measures Safety-practices Traumatic-injuries Work-practices

  More +
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Construction ; Machine (All) ; Machine - Construction ; Prevention through Design (PtD)
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE95NJ030
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  New Jersey ; OSHA Region 2
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  7 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20026609
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2014-105059
• 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 95NJ030, 1995 Aug ; :1-7
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1995
• Performing Organization:
  New Jersey Department of Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  23 - Construction - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1991/09/30
• End Date:
  2005/08/31
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:dbf0e1ebd04efd7afcf304f1d11df996925453edf5ee8fa42237039c7cf858462ab5c694467cca51a0ae5696fd182eb2f4a00cf0cedda4edd8f34211081563da
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/170063/cdc_170063_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 24.53 KB ]