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Accident: 200541878 - Employee Is Killed By Falling Valve

Accident: 200541878 -- Report ID: 0317500 -- Event Date: 08/14/2009
InspectionOpen DateSICEstablishment Name
31263429808/14/20091795All Industrial Services Inc.
At approximately 9:30 a.m. on August 14, 2009, Employee #1was demolishing the Final Cooler, Number 2, at a Coke Oven facility in Monessen, Pennsylvania. He was removing a 5,000-lb valve from the outlet down comer. Using a cutting torch, Employee #1 removed all but three of the bolts, which secured the valve. Employee #1 and his foreman then rigged the valve to a 50-ton truck crane, using a 0.625-in. wire rope to create two basket hitch slings, one under the stem side, and the second under the flange side. With the valve rigged up, Employee #1 removed the remaining three bolts. Then, the foreman instructed the crane operator to lift the load, however the valve did not move. Both, the foreman and Employee #1 tried to pry the valve loose and looked what could hold it. Seeing that all the bolts were cut completely through, the foreman instructed the crane operator to make several additional attempts to lift the valve. Once the foreman realized the valve was not moving, he told the operator to lower the line. When he did that, Employee #1 removed the basket hitch, which was underneath the flange side. The foreman was going to drive wedges into the gasket. Before the foreman could return with the wedges, the valve came off the outlet down comer and went out of the lone basket hitch. The valve fell through the scaffold platform that Employee #1 was standing on, sending him and the platform approximately 10 ft into a tank below. The valve also fell to the bottom of the tank, pinning Employee #1 against the tank inside wall. Employee #1 was killed.
Keywords: platform, demolition, pinned, truck crane, construction, torch, bolt, valve, fall, contusion
End Use Proj Type Proj Cost Stories NonBldgHt Fatality
Manufacturing plant Demolition $50,000 to $250,000 X
Employee # Inspection Age Sex Degree Nature Occupation Construction
1 312634298 Fatality Bruise/Contus/Abras Occupation not reported FallDist:
FallHt:
Cause: Demolition
FatCause: Struck by falling object/projectile

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