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Sewage treatment plant worker dies after falling 12 feet through a floor opening.

New Jersey Department of Health

Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, FACE 93NJ034, 1993 Sep; :1-4

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/face/stateface/nj/93nj034.html

20026558

On May 13, 1993 a 51 year-old male sewage treatment plant worker was critically injured after falling 12 feet through a floor opening where he was using an overhead hoist to move materials to the basement of a plant building. The incident occurred after the victim and a co-worker had completed hoisting a pallet jack from the basement of the building. The victim was returning the hook of the hoist into the building when he backed into the floor opening and fell into the basement. He died of his injuries on May 15, 1993, two days after the incident. NJDOH FACE investigators concluded that, in order to prevent similar incidents in the future, these safety guidelines should be followed: 1. Employers and employees should ensure that the floor gate door openings are always provided with guard rails when the doors are opened. The floor gate doors should also be closed immediately when access is no longer needed. 2. The employer should consider additional guarding and design modifications for the hoist and loading dock area. 3. Employers should conduct a job hazard analysis of all work activities with the participation of the workers. 4. Employers should develop, implement, and enforce a comprehensive safety program with the assistance of a joint labor/management safety committee. In addition, to prevent possible electrical incidents; 5. The employer should immediately take all overhead hoists out of service and inspect them for electrical malfunctions.

Accident-analysis; Accident-potential; Accident-prevention; Accidents; Injuries; Injury-prevention; Safety-education; Safety-equipment; Safety-practices; Safety-measures; Traumatic-injuries; Work-practices; Region-2; Sewage-treatment; Sewage-industry

19930901

Field Studies; Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation

Cooperative Agreement

1993

PB2013-108671

A01

FACE-93NJ034; Cooperative-Agreement-Number-U60-CCU-207088

NAICS-22

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

NJ; WV

New Jersey Department of Health