Inspection Detail

Inspection: 104465141 - Lanasa & Smith, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Department Of Labor, Licensing, And Regulation Division Of Labor And Industry Maryland Occupational Safety And Health

Investigation Summary

Employee #1, a receiving clerk working alone on night duty at a wholesale food distribution warehouse, took an electric pallet jack off the charger, just as he had done every day for over 8 years. The jack was a Yale model MPD-30 that was used daily. It had four 12-volt batteries in a series, stacked two and two. Each could be plugged into a 120-volt outlet after shifting the DC plug from the operation and setting the timer. The grounding pole of the attached AC cord on top of the built-in charger, which was located between the batteries, grazed the positive pole on a battery, causing an electrical fault. The fault blew the top of the battery into Employee #1's face. He flushed his face and eyes at a nearby spigot and called for emergency medical services. His eyes were further flushed by police and emergency medical technicians, who then took him to a hospital. He was examined, treated, and released. The employee consulted his ophthalmologist and found that he had no permanent injury. The manufacturer's instructions for taking off the charge are to avoid contact between the AC plug prongs and the battery terminals when coiling the cord on top of the charger. The clerk was not aware of the precautions against making this contact. Terminal covers were also available to preclude such contact.

Keywords: BATTERY, EYE, ELECTRIC ARC, E GI III, ELECTRICAL, BATTERY CHARGER, STRUCK BY, ELECTRICAL FAULT, SULFURIC ACID