Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1450778.015 - Container Life Cycle Management Llc

Inspection Information - Office: Little Rock Area Office

Investigation Summary

At 9:00 a.m. on December 10, 2019, an employee was working as a laborer for a firm that reconditioned and processed 55-gallon (208-liter) steel drums. The firm had a machine called a drum blaster or shot blaster. It used augers to move and grind up pieces of the drums. The drum blaster contained rotating shafts, pulleys, and augers. Employees operating the drum blaster were responsible for removing jams and obstructions. The firm's risk assessment for clearing jams stated that lockout/tagout (LOTO) was impracticable. A jam in the machine would be cleared while the auger was still in motion. The firm had a safety consultant. The drum blaster ran on two energy sources, pneumatic and electrical. The drum auger on the top platform was inside a box that had a cover that had to be removed to clear jams and perform maintenance. Employees were provided with a compressed air tool to clear jams while the auger was in motion. Employees cleared jams several times a day, for approximately two hours total. In this incident, the employee and a coworker were experiencing re-blast, in which debris in the drum blaster was blowing back. The employee could not get the provided air tool to work, so he decided to remove the debris manually. He climbed up on top of the machine and removed a sight glass from the top. The cover, which was secured with bolts and screws, had to be removed to provide access to the area where the employee thought the jam was located. The box containing the auger had a 15-in. by 12-in. (380-mm by 300-mm) opening. The employee thought that he could reach in and get his hand back out faster than the auger was turning. He reached into the auger with his left arm. He was pushing some of the metal shots or parts into the auger when the auger caught his hand and pulled it into the machine. The employee suffered vascular damage and a crushing injury to his left arm. He was airlifted to a university-affiliated teaching hospital. He was hospitalized for two or more days.

Keywords: Arm, Artery, Auger, Auger Mechanism, Caught By, Cleaning, Compressed Air, Crushed, Emergency Response, Hand, Inadequate Maint, Inexperience, Jammed, Loss Of Blood, Reach, Reaching, Rotating Parts