Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1447015.015 - Transwaste Services, Llc

Inspection Information - Office: Savannah Area Office

Investigation Summary

At 9:30 a.m. on November 14, 2019, an employee was working as a maintenance technician for a firm that collected solid waste. He was working in the maintenance shop. He was removing a hydraulic line from a Mack roll-off truck. The line was some 2.5 to 3 feet (0.8 to 0.9 meters) long. The technician was underneath the vehicle, trying to loosen a fitting on the line. As the employee was under the truck, his supervisor was using a blow torch to heat a nut on the fitting and get it to break loose. The supervisor was also the shop foreman and head mechanic. This technique was also heating residual fluid in the line. When the fitting broke loose, the residual fluid spilled out of the line onto the employee's head. The employee received thermal burns on his face. He was hospitalized. He had not been wearing a face shield. The foreman stated that he had used heat several times in the past to loosen nuts while changing out hydraulic lines on trucks. He also said that the shop had changed three lines in the last five or six years. Following the incident, workers would use a hammer to loosen the nut first, cut off the fitting, or use cheater bars on both sides to loosen the fitting rather than apply heat. If they did have to use heat, then they would make sure that the worker loosening the nut had on a full-face shield.

Keywords: Automotive Repair, Burn, Eye protection, Face, Fitting, Garbage Truck, Head, Heat, Hydraulic Fluid, Hydraulic Line, Maintenance, PPE, Repair, Supervisor, Torch, Work Rules