Inspection Detail

Inspection: 18820118 - Block & Guggenheimer, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Department Of Labor, Licensing, And Regulation Division Of Labor And Industry Maryland Occupational Safety And Health

Investigation Summary

Employee #1, the line #3 supervisor, was making control changes to the #3 palletizer, a machine that automatically stacks boxes of picked vegetables and wooden pallets. Employee #1 was inside the energized palletizer changing a pallet drop rod, which determines the number of courses of boxes that are stacked onto a pallet. This drop rod is provided with "collars" that can be adjusted to the desired position up and down the rod. For example, if four courses of boxes were to be stacked onto a pallet, then four collars would be installed and positioned accordingly on the drop rod. These collars activate a microswitch that is mounted on a movable steel frame carriage that supports the pallet. Each time a sensor contacts a collar, the carriage stops at that position and allows the next course of boxes to be stacked onto the pallet. While Employee #1 was inside the palletizer he activated a microswitch that signaled the carriage to descend. He apparently thought that it would stop at one of the collars above him. Instead, the carriage continued downward past the collars, crushing Employee #1 to death against the stationary conveyor system that expels the pallet. Company policy is to de-energize equipment prior to working on it. There are no provisions, however, for securing the machine in the OFF position. Employee #1 had 15 years of experience with this equipment, more than anybody else.

Keywords: MAINTENANCE, WORK RULES, LOCKOUT, CRUSHED