Details

Parent Category: Safety Info Posts

Category: Lockout Tagout

Published: 19 March 2013

A 51-year-old sanitation worker at a frozen-food packaging facility died after he collapsed while cleaning one of the conveyor lines.  He was assigned to clean the North Pea Line.  He opened the access doors on both sides of the cleaning pan blower housing in preparation for the cleaning.  The equipment was not shut down nor locked out; the victim was not an authorized employee and, therefore, should not have been working on the equipment.  However, he began work near an unguarded projecting shaft end on the inclined-conveyor-dead-end roller.  His clothes got twisted around the end of the shaft, and he collapsed onto the conveyor.  His supervisor was the first to notice him in the collapsed state, and other workers called emergency assistance while basic first aid/CPR was provided.   He was transported to a local hospital, where he was examined and admitted.  He died in the hospital the next day.  The medical staff discovered no external signs of trauma and no musculoskeletal injuries to the victim.  No evidence indicated he was asphyxiated by becoming entangled in the rotating shaft end.  The victim was known to be diabetic, and his blood glucose levels were measured in the HIGH range in the ambulance and the emergency room.  It remains unknown if a diabetic state contributed to his demise.

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