Fatality Narrative: Worker Crushed Between Counterweight and Mast Brace While Performing Maintenance on Construction Hoist

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Washington (State). Department of Labor and Industries
• Description:
  On January 26, 2002, during turnaround operations at an oil refinery, a 28 year-old craftsman boilermaker performing maintenance on a temporary construction material/personal hoist or elevator was crushed and killed when he was struck by the hoist counterweight. The victim was working from the top of the elevator cage roof where he was greasing the elevator rollers, which were located along the corner legs of the mast and at the bottom of the counterweight. There were two workers in the elevator box who were serving as a signal person and an operator. The three workers had agreed to communicate by verbal and hand signals with the worker on the roof when to move the elevator upwards. At one point, the elevator operator thought he heard the worker on the cab roof give a signal to move the elevator up and he did so. When the elevator went up, the counterweight came down. The worker was crushed between the mast cross bracing and the counterweight and/or the counterweight hitch on the top of the elevator cab. Rescue workers removed the victim within minutes and he was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead. None of the workers had read the elevator manufacturer's maintenance manual or safety instructions. They were not aware that the correct procedure for working from the roof of the elevator involved moving the operator's control box to the top where the person servicing the elevator has control of it. Also, they did not know that maintenance operations could be performed in different ways that would not have put a worker at risk of injury. The victim had worked for his employer for six years. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Construction Industry Construction Materials Education Maintenance Mortality Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety Staff Development Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Accident Prevention Construction Construction Materials Construction Workers Equipment Maintenance Equipment Operation Equipment Operators Equipment Reliability Fatalities Hazards Maintenance Workers Protective Equipment Protective Measures Safety Education Safety Equipment Safety Measures Safety Practices Training Traumatic Injuries Work Environment Workers Worker Safety

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• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Publisher:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 10 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20052036
• Citation:
  Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 71-2-2002, 2002 Jun; :1
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2002
• Performing Organization:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Fatality narrative: worker crushed between counterweight and mast brace while performing maintenance on construction hoist
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c896490f568d5f92c29ef684d2e760169eeeba78006273a6cbc0cfff71a5305259632a920dc0e3f21d9000d244f388eab820862437ce0e3e077f73354af1cdfb
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/228871/cdc_228871_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 11.66 KB ]