Inspection Detail

Inspection: 111392593 - Boeing Commercial Airplane Group/Fabrication Div

Inspection Information - Office: Dosh Tacoma Service Location, Tacoma, Wa

Investigation Summary

The employees work with wing skins and other very long airplane parts in an area called the forming corridor. The corridor has an automated overhead material handling device and is made up of two sides. One side is made up of fixed rails, much like I-beams, spaced at various intervals. Some rails are used for storage or holding parts, and others are in line with machines used to process the parts. The other side is an overhead crane, with a rail, that moves back and forth to line up with the fixed rails. The parts are attached to or hung from material handling movers or carriers that transfer the part from the crane onto a fixed rail, or from a fixed rail onto the crane, to be moved to another rail either to wait for the next step in the process, to be inspected, or to be placed into another machine. Employees #1 and #2 went up approximately 14 feet in a Grove scissor lift to attempt to move or jog a carrier which had hung up and was not moving the part into the machine as it was supposed to. The lift was perpendicular to the part being worked on. While they were trying to get the carrier to engage, another part was being moved onto the rail next to the one they were working on. When they noticed the part coming, Employee #2 tried to start the lift to get out of the way but could not. The part struck the side of the lift and continued on its path down the rail, pushing over the lift. Employees #1 and #2 were thrown to the concrete floor. Both workers were given emergency care, were back boarded with C-collars, and transported to Good Samaritan Hospital by District 9 medical units. Employee #1 was airlifted from Good Samaritan Hospital to Harbor View Trauma Center for emergency surgery on a broken right knee, femur, and trochanter (the ball that joins with the pelvic girdle). According to a nurse at Good Samaritan Hospital's emergency room, some of his bones were shattered and would require extensive surgery. Employee #2 was treated for bumps and bruises and released.

Keywords: KNEE, FRACTURE, WORK RULES, LOCKOUT, OVERHEAD CRANE, PELVIS, FALL, AERIAL LIFT, CONTUSION, LEG