Inspection Detail

Inspection: 125810259 - H L Power Co

Inspection Information - Office: Sacramento District Office

Investigation Summary

A power plant operator was working on the swing shift at a cogeneration plant that produced electricity from wood waste. The employee was operating a Dresser TD 40-B bulldozer to push wood chips to supply fuel to the plant's boilers. The employee was using the dozer's lights because the sun had set. The conveyor carrying fuel to the plant had lights installed beside it. The employee was using these lights as a point of reference to push the fuel to the proper point at the conveyor. As he was pushing fuel to the conveyor, he ran the bulldozer off the pile of wood chips, which was 13.7 meters above grade. (The pile was as high as 15 meters in some places.) The employee had lost his bearings and had been pushing fuel at an angle across the fuel pile. He was hospitalized with fractures of several vertebrae.

Keywords: FRACTURE, WOOD CHIPS, LIGHTING, ELEC UTILITY WORK, BULLDOZER, VERTEBRA, OVERTURN