Inspection Detail

Inspection: 557258.015 - Deffenbaugh Inc

Inspection Information - Office: Omaha Area Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 9:30 a.m. on July 23, 2012, Employee #1, a garbage collector, was gathering trash. He had collected several trash containers and was dragging them to the back of a garbage truck. As he pulled one of the containers, a pressurized unit within the container release energy that sounded like a gas cylinder rupturing, according to a coworker, and released its content. In the sudden release of energy, shrapnel struck Employee # 1, hitting him in his upper lip just below the left nostril and causing the removal of part of his lip. Employee #1 went to the front of the truck and called his supervisor. While Employee #1 was waiting for his supervisor to drive to his location, a coworker dumped the contents of the trash containers into the load area of the truck and cycled the contents into the compacting area of the truck. Any evidence was lost at that time. The supervisor arrived around 9:45 a.m. and provided first aid kits by applying gauze and pressure to Employee #1s upper lip. The supervisor was not trained by the company in first aid. Around 9:50 a.m., the safety manager showed up at the site and loaded Employee #1 into a vehicle and transported him to a medical center, where he underwent plastic surgery and received additional treatment and was then hospitalized.

Keywords: Compressed Gas, Face, Pressure Release, Pressure Vessel, Struck By