Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1559204.015 - Ki, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Appleton Area Office

Investigation Summary

At 10:45 a.m. on October 15, 2021, an employee was changing out hosing and brackets for steam piping on a dip tank at a furniture manufacturing facility. The employee who was a maintenance worker had been asked by a plating technician to look at a leaking steam hose. While conducting this maintenance activity, the overhead hoist was not deactivated or locked out. The hoist is used to grab racks of material that will complete a circuit of the dip tanks to clean and plate the material. Typically, the employee would have conducted the steam hosing change from below the open edge of the dip tanks and below a metal drip pan. However, the employee climbed between two dip tanks and attempted to pry the steam hoses out of the dip tank using a 2 in by 4 in wooden board of unspecified length. While the employee was prying the hose, he was at mid-chest level with a tank metal drip pan when the hoist was returning to its home position across the dip tank. The hoist struck the employee in the back between the shoulders and pinned him between the hoist and the tank's drip pan. The employee was hospitalized to treat multiple crushing injuries to the back, neck, chest and head, leading to loss of brain function.

Keywords: Back, Brain, Caught Between, Chest, Crushed, Crushing, Dip Tank, Energized, Head, Hoist, Lockout, Lockout/Tagout, Maintenance, Misjudgment, Misjudgment of Hazardous Situation, Neck, Pinned, Tank