Accident: 201720026 - Fell From Aerial Lift

A power line worker with 26 years of experience working for an electric utility was standing near an aerial lift truck that was being moved. Apparently, the aerial lift struck a tree, knocked the employee down (he was struck by the bucket), and pinned him under the rear left wheels. The employee's coworkers could not move the aerial lift truck, so they radioed for help. They carried the employee up a mountain to a Jeep for transport to a hospital. The injured employee sustained an internal hemorrhage and a fractured pelvis. He died of his injuries.

elec utility work, power line worker, run over, pelvis, aerial lift, hemorrhage, fracture

Accident: 170238570 - Has Heart Attack, Dies Of Cardiovascular Disease

At 2:30 p.m. on August 31, 1998, Employee #1 was returning to his work area after mixing a small cup of paint primer. He passed by a coworker, stopped, turned around, and ran into the coworker. Employee #1 staggered backward and fell to the concrete floor, striking first his buttocks and then his head. His glasses and ear protectors were knocked off when he hit the floor. Employee #1 bit his tongue and appeared dazed and disoriented, but he remained conscious. His coworkers had noticed on two other occasions that he had appeared pale and was sweating profusely. Emergency 911 was called and he was taken to the hospital for treatment of an apparent heart attack. He was subsequently determined to have a skull fracture, subdural hemorrhage, and cerebral contusions. At 3:30 a.m. on September 8, 1998, Employee #1 died of acute myocardial infarct due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

heart attack, head, contusion, heart, cardiovasc disease, dizziness, fracture, hemorrhage, fall

Accident: 170393391 - One Killed, One Injured When Struck By Pit Cover

At approximately 4:00 p.m. on February 19, 1998, Employees #1 and #2, mechanical millwrights at Bethlehem Steel who were assigned to the #2 caster, were removing the damaged leading edge section of a horizontally mounted roller pit cover at the East Tundish dump station pit. The pit measured approximately 40 ft long by 16 ft wide by 23 ft deep. They were removing the last three bolts holding the leading edge to the curtain when the leading edge broke away under the internal stored spring cable tension and struck both employees, sweeping them off the pit's enclosure wall. Employee #1 was catapulted 38 ft across the pit into the west wall; he died of internal hemorrhaging. Employee #2 sustained only minor bruises to his lower extremities as the leading edge passed over him. The primary cause of the accident was that the stored spring tension maintained in the roller lever's drum assembly was not released prior to the employees beginning maintenance work.

millwright, hemorrhage, struck by, roller--mach/part, struck against, maintenance, work rules, leading edge, cover

Accident: 898635 - Killed When Struck By Compressed Air In Trench

At approximately 10:30 a.m. on November 4, 1997, Employee #1, age 2, was working alone in a 6 ft by 6 ft 2 in. wide by 33 ft 10 in. long trench to pressurize a new 12 in. natural gas pipeline with compressed air. The pipeline, capped with a metal end piece and a dresser #38 coupling, was being pressurized to prevent moisture and debris from entering the new pipe. The dresser #38 coupling, used to splice together two sections of natural gas pipeline, normally operated between 15 and 25 psi, with a maximum tested capacity of 60 psi. Employee #1 had introduced at least the test capacity into the pipe line and had intended to continue until 90 psi was reached. At some point between 60 and 90 psi, the coupling gave way, releasing a 600 lb blast of compressed air into the trench. Employee #1 received the full force of the blast, was pushed back 9 ft into the north trench wall, and then thrown forward between two boards on the east trench wall. He sustained head injuries, intense compression and hemorrhaging of major internal organs, with severe stippling and penetration of various body parts by debris from the trench. Employee #1 was transported by Med-A-Vac to the Washington Hospital Center Shock/Trauma unit, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

construction, trench, high pressure, equipment failure, head, compressed air, hemorrhage, pressure release, work rules, air pressure

Accident: 840249 - Killed When Struck By Vehicle

Employee #1 was moving a slow moving diesel boom snorkel lift, model #TB37D, across a three-lane highway. He was perpendicular to the line of traffic when a vehicle struck the boom of the equipment and tossed him out of the bucket. He landed on the middle lane of the highway and sustained brain damage, multiple back fractures and internal hemorrhaging. He was killed. Employee #1 was not wearing a belt or harnesses.

struck by, traffic accident, brain, fracture, seat belt, construction, work rules, hemorrhage, collision, highway

Accident: 200070266 - Killed When Struck By Falling I-Beam

At approximately 1:00 p.m. on September 8, 1997, Employee #1 arrived at a residential home to pick up excess masonry blocks and cement. He backed his truck, which was equipped with a lifting boom and fork assembly, next to the garage opening. There was no one at the site when Employee #1 arrived. He positioned himself beneath a steel I-beam that spanned the garage opening, and began operating the boom assembly with a remote control box attached to a flexible cable. Using the truck's fork assembly, he picked up a pallet of masonry cement and set it next to a previously placed pallet of masonry blocks. While attempting to retract the forks from under the pallet, he struck the unsecured I-beam and knocked it off the block wall. The beam fell across Employee #1's lower body and knocked him backward. His head struck against the concrete deck and he suffered blunt force trauma to his skull that resulted in cerebral hemorrhaging. Employee #1 was pronounced dead at the scene.

steel beam, falling object, struck by, head, struck against, concrete, hemorrhage, brain, loading