Accident Report Detail
Accident Summary Nr: 201954856 - Employee Is Killed by Concrete Crushing Machine
| Inspection Nr | Date Opened | SIC | NAICS | Establishment Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 310570635 | 11/09/2006 | 1795 | 238910 | Homrich, Inc. |
Abstract: On November 9, 2006, a demolition contractor was working to clear away concrete and other debris from a site where a school was to be built. The crew was using a Hartl concrete crusher, a track-mounted unit with an in-feed chute that was loaded with large pieces of concrete by a track hoe. A conveyor at the bottom of the chute fed the concrete pieces to a rotary hydraulic crushing cylinder with square-shaped blades along its length and periphery. Above the cutting cylinder was a solid steel cover bolted in place. Once the concrete was crushed to a certain consistency, another conveyor moved the crushed material from the unit to the ground. A different, magnetized conveyor deposited metal pieces, particularly rebar, into a separate pile. When the concrete crushing machine became clogged in the area of the rotary cutter, the foreman, who was on the operating platform in the vicinity of the in-feed chute with a new employee he was training, directed Employee #1 to free the jam. Employee #1 entered the chute above the jammed drum/cylinder area, and stood on the drum. After he freed the jam, the cylinder/drum, which weighted several thousand pounds, rotated. This caused him to fall between the drum and frame of the equipment. One of the blades struck his head and the side of his face. Employee #1 was killed. The company had owned the piece of equipment only about a month and a half, and had no procedures in place to address freeing jammed material. No means of lockout/tagout was used for either the gravity force on the drum or the power to the mechanism which would engage the clutch, although the latter was not the direct cause of the fatal injury. Employee #1 had been on this job for about two weeks and was the operator of the track hoe that loaded the in-feed chute.
| End Use | Project Type | Project Cost | Stories | Non-building Height | Fatality | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other building | Demolition | $500,000 to $1,000,000 | X | ||||
| Employee # | Inspection Nr | Age | Sex | Degree of Injury | Nature of Injury | Occupation | Construction |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 310570635 | Fatality | Other | Construction laborers | Distance of Fall: feet Worker Height Above Ground/Floor: feet Cause: Demolition Fatality Cause: Caught in stationary equipment |
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