Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1572094.015 - United Cooperative

Inspection Information - Office: Madison Area Office

Investigation Summary

At 8:00 a.m. on January 6, 2022, an employee (Manager) was assisting a coworker opening railroad car lids in preparation for loading the next day. Due to extremely cold and snowy conditions the lids were frozen shut. There was a fixed fall protection system present (rigid rail with trolley system and a body harness with a retractable) for accessing the top of the railroad cars. The trolley system is above the cars and has coverage of about three cars in length. The employee and coworker were opening all the lids in the string rather than opening the lids located underneath the fixed fall protection. The fall protection system did not extend to the end of the string of cars, and the employee and coworker were not connected to the fall protection system while opening the lids. The employee and coworker had successfully opened four lids the employee fell approximately 14 feet to the frozen ground below. The employee broke both ankles and was hospitalized.

Keywords: Ankle, Blunt force, Blunt force trauma, Broken Bone, Engineering Controls, Fall, Fall From Elevation, Fall Protection, Foot, Fracture, Frozen, Lack of Engineering Controls, Material Handling, Pavement, Rail, Rail Yard, Railroad, Railroad Car, Safety Device, Temperature, Train, Walking Surface, Weather, Work Surface