Inspection Detail

Inspection: 123294159 - Waterbury Farrel Technologies Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Bridgeport Area Office

Investigation Summary

On June 11, 1997, Employee #1 and a coworker were engaged in some finishing work on a tachometer arm that was in place on the top of an 8 ft 2 in. wide by 13 ft 7 in. long deflector roll base assembled machine. The 56 in. long arm was positioned horizontally over the 56 1/2 in. long deflector roll, with the end of the arm in the middle of the roll. The tachometer was used to calculate the speed of the sheet metal passing over the deflector roll once the machine was operating in its designated factory. Before the machine was shipped out, the employees had to counter bore two holes for 3/8 in. sockethead screws, which were on the underside of the tachometer arm facing the deflector roll. To get to the holes, they had to lift the 100 lb arm into a vertical position. The pivot point of the arm was bolted to an approximately 4 ft long by 3 ft platform that was approximately 61 in. above the floor. The hydraulic piston that would normally lift the arm if the machine was up and running was neither connected nor powered. Once the arm was vertical, one employee was to connect the arm to the hydraulic piston, which would hold up the arm while the holes were drilled. The arm was attached to the machine at one pivot point, which allowed the arm to move 180 degrees north to south when the hydraulic piston was not attached. The two employees lifted the arm to a vertical position; the coworker was standing on the north side of the pivot point and Employee #1 was on the south. While the arm was held vertical by the coworker, Employee #1 knelt down to attach the arm to the hydraulic piston. He used an adjustable wrench to turn the clevis of the hydraulic piston to line up with the tachometer arm. The arm started to move north, past the center point of the pivot, causing the coworker to lose control of it. Employee #1 did not realize what was happening until the arm came down and struck him on the left shoulder and pushed him backward onto the platform. He landed on his right side, with his right leg underneath his body. Employee #1 yelled that he had broken his leg, flopped his leg back over to a straight position, and lay on his back on the top platform of the machine. With the help of his coworker, Employee #1, using his left leg and both arms, raised the arm up about 3 to 4 ft up into a vertical position. (Note: Next missing from original report.)

Keywords: FRACTURE, UNSECURED, WORK RULES, MANUAL MAT HANDLING, STRUCK BY, FALLING OBJECT, LOST CONTROL, COMMUNICATION, LEG