Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1395632.015 - Mp & A Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Toledo Area Office

Investigation Summary

At 9:30 p.m. on April 22, 2019, an employee was working as a laborer for a manufacturer of coated and laminated packaging paper. He was emptying bags into a hopper. He was working while on an elevated platform. He was cutting open 22.7-kg (50-pound) bags of titanium dioxide (TiO2) and emptying them into a hopper. The hopper had a larger container or bag of approximately 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) capacity attached to it. The company repackaged the smaller bags into a larger container or bag for a customer. The employee was working with a supervisor on the platform. The supervisor had placed a pallet of 22.7-kg (50-pound) bags of TiO2 onto the platform and was walking up the stairs, when the employee fell from the platform. The employee suffered a fracture to the area around an eye, a wrist, and a shoulder when he fell to the ground. He was hospitalized. The area where the pallet was loaded onto the platform ordinarily had a safety chain across the opening. The chain had been removed to allow the pallet to be loaded. There was no mid-rail chain or lower chain installed across the area, only the top chain. The supervisor was going up to the platform to reattach the chain when the employee fell.

Keywords: Chain, Elevated Work Platform, Eye, Fall, Fall Protection, Fracture, Guardrail, Hopper, Manual Mat Handling, Shoulder, Wrist