21 year-old electrocuted while moving grain auger in Indiana.
Source
NIOSH 1986 Apr; :1-5
Abstract
A 21 year old warehouseman was electrocuted while he and another worker were attempting to move a grain auger. The warehouseman and a truck driver had been sent to a grain storage area to bring back a load of grain. They proceeded to the storage area to load grain from the storage bin into the truck for transport. The truck driver had been employed by this company for 1 month, the other man for 7 months. Neither had transferred grain at this particular facility before. Both men had commented on the presence of overhead power lines when they arrived at the site and were aware of the hazard while moving the auger. Attempts to move the auger by hand failed, and they could not lower it from its upright position. The workers attached a chain between the tractor and the auger and began pulling the auger back away from the grain bin. The truck driver was operating the tractor; the warehouseman was on the ground guiding the auger with both hands. During the operation, the auger contacted two phases of a 12,400 volt distribution system. The driver saw the man on the ground fall and jumped from the tractor, receiving a shock when he hit the ground. Recommendations arising out of this accident include: identification of safety hazards that may be encountered at a work site either on or off the normal premises; stressing of safe movement of grain augers; and affixing of a safety warning sign to each auger that warns the user to lower before transporting and look up for overhead power lines.
Keywords
NIOSH-Author; Region-5; FACE-86-22; Electrical-hazards; Electrical-shock; Safety-practices; Electric-power-transmission-lines
Document Type
Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation; Field Studies
NTIS Accession No.
PB87-222766
Identifying No.
FACE-86-22
Source Name
Division of Safety Research, NIOSH, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Morgantown, West Virginia, Report Number FACE-86-22, 5 pages
