Inspection Detail

Inspection: 305474835 - Wss Water Systems & Supplies

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

At 6:13 p.m. on December 4, 2003, Employee #1, the vice president and owner of the WSS Water Systems and Supplies in Garden Grove, California, decided to add an approximately 8-ft-long injection molding machine, which would make 5-gallon bottles for just-in-time manufacturing. That would reduce the need to tie-up large areas of the warehouse with bottles bought elsewhere. The injection molder arrived from China, but the training and debugging technicians, along with their detailed operating manuals, were held up due to visa and security procedures. This molder heated a small, thick, tubular plastic blank, and then blew 55-psi air into it like a balloon in a set of enclosing dies that confined and shaped the product, resulting in a 5 gallon water bottle. Impatient to use the machine, Employee #1 turned on the new injection molder and inserted a bottle blank. He went to the left side of the machine and programmed the digital key pad for what he thought was the correct operating sequence. Another employee working at the operator's station pressed the two-hand trip to start the process. Employee #1 had somehow scrambled the program sequence. The blank was heated and expanded at 55 psi, but the dies used to contain and shape it were not closed. The water bottle exploded, blowing the left side protective panel off the machine where Employee #1 was standing. The panel struck Employee #1 in his abdomen, causing serious internal injuries and bleeding. Employee #1 was taken to University of California, Irvine Medical Center, where he was kept for treatment, including draining of abdominal blood and fluids.

Keywords: ABDOMEN, PANEL, MOLDING MACHINE, WORK RULES, EXPLOSION, STRUCK BY, FLYING OBJECT