Inspection Detail

Inspection: 314025875 - Sallee, Inc

Inspection Information - Office: Wichita Area Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 8:30 p.m. on March 10, 2010, Employee #1 was working for a trucking firm. He had been dispatched to a location ten miles north of Sublette, Kansas, to unload 40,000 lbs. of anhydrous ammonia from the tanker truck he was driving into a storage tank on the site. At the middle section of the tanker truck, Employee #1 bent over to close a 4-inch main valve lever. To do this, he had to extend his right hand above and past a power take-off (PTO) shaft, which was turning at approximately 700 to 750 rpm. A bolt protruding from a universal joint on the turning PTO shaft caught the right wrist of the jacket he was wearing. Employee #1's right forearm was pulled in and around the shaft three times. When Employee #1 reacted by reaching in with his left hand, his left wrist was shattered. A nearby resident approximately 100 yards away heard a scream, jumped in his truck, and drove to the site. The resident cut off Employee #1's jacket with a pocket knife and, following Employee #1's directive, shut the truck off. The resident removed Employee #1's right arm from the shaft, and his wife called for emergency medical services, which were dispatched from Sublette, KS. Employee #1 was transported to Saint Catherine Hospital in Garden City, Kansas, and from there to Via Christi in Wichita, Kansas. On March 12, 2010, Employee #1's right arm was surgically amputated. On March 28, 2010, he died, due to complications.

Keywords: TANK TRUCK, FRACTURE, AMPUTATED, ROTATING SHAFT, CAUGHT BY, DRIVER, ANHYDROUS AMMONIA, ELDERLY, POWER TAKE-OFF, UNGUARDED