Inspection Detail

Inspection: 112090147 - Dti

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

At 10:08 a.m. on April 5, 1991, Employee #1, of Aserco, was working as a contract employee at Rhone-Poulenc Basic Chemicals, transferring aluminum trihydrate from the bucket of a Michigan 35AWS front-end loader into a receiving hopper at the aluminum plant. The material was sticking to the sides of the hopper and Employee #1 and a coworker, the aluminum plant operator, were using shovels and other tools to push the material onto the drag chain conveyor at the bottom of the hopper. The bucket of the loader had to be dumped a little at a time. Between dumps, the bucket remained suspended over the lip of the hopper. After each dump, Employee #1 and the coworker stood on either side of the bucket along the edge of the hopper's lip and pushed the material into the drag conveyor. During the last transfer, the coworker finished clearing his side of the hopper, yelled to Employee #1 that he intended to dump more material, and climbed up into the seat of the loader. Employee #1 did not hear him and had his left hand resting on the lip of the hopper while he prodded the material with his right hand. The operator started the loader, apparently touched the wrong lever, and accidentally dropped the bucket onto Employee #1's hand, pinning it against the lip of the hopper. He suffered a partial amputation of his left thumb and was hospitalized. Investigation by Rhone-Poulenc and the union found no evidence of cylinder leakage. Both men had several years experience operating loaders, including the one involved in this accident.

Keywords: AMPUTATED, FRONT END LOADER, LOADER BUCKET, WORK RULES, OFF LOADING, PINNED, THUMB, STRUCK BY, FALLING OBJECT, COMMUNICATION