Woodworker Dies When Struck by Tool Knife Launched from Overarm Router

Details

• Description:
  A 32-year-old woodworker was fatally injured at work when a steel tool was propelled from a rosette cutter. The cutter was installed in an overarm router. The steel tool knife penetrated a polyacrylic sheet (trade name--PIexiglass) shield and then penetrated and exited his chest, subsequently ricocheting off the wall before finally landing. The victim was an experienced wood-worker, whose job also included tool ginding and setup of spindle moulders. The knife, measuring approximately-1-5/8 inch square, was part of a cutter head assembly which had been previously used on a drill press at much lower cutting speeds. It was custom designed and built for the drill press, not for the router which is run at much higher speeds. At the time of the incident, the router was set for 20,000 rpm and was being used to make custom rosettes. The maximum permissible speed was not indicated on the cutter head, and there were no written procedures for its use (e.g., the recommended cutting tool speed). The knife was held in the 4-3/4" diameter cutter head by flat shims and set screws. The set screws could not counteract the centrifugal forces generated by the high-speed rotation. Description provided by NIOSH
• Subjects:
  • Accident Prevention
  • Accidents
  • Accidents, Occupational
  • Manufacturing and Industrial Facilities
  • Occupational Health
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Safety
  • Wood
• Keywords:
  • Accident-analysis
  • Accident-prevention
  • Injury-prevention
  • Protective-measures
  • Industrial-equipment
  • Industrial-safety
  • Safety-research
  • Cutting-tools
  • Woodworking-industry
  • Woodworking-equipment
  More +
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Newsletter
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1
• Volume:
  2
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20034286 ; nn:20034287
• Citation:
  FACE Facts 1997 Feb; 2(2):1
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1995
• NORA Priority Area:
  Disease and Injury: Traumatic Injuries
• Performing Organization:
  Massachusetts Department of Public Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  19920930
• End Date:
  20060831
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/228608/cdc_228608_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 177.24 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:44381a25f19ed1c287cbbc24b36d0135ea41bb83e3f206aeab8dead3f9bd97774a50e054ab352205ac2c7b77f6d26ad4c0b3bb49c738b5a2478f1036b72d5ff9