Sanitation Worker Incidents

Sanitation Fatality:
A sanitation worker at a poultry plant was cleaning out a chiller. The motor that powers the paddles inside the chiller was accidentally turned on by a coworker who was cleaning a different chiller. Neither the main power control nor the chiller control box had been locked or tagged out in accordance with 29 CFR 1910.147, The control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout). The employee was struck by and caught between the rotating paddle blades and the interior wall of the chiller. He died of severe chest injuries approximately 28 hours after the accident.
Sanitation Fatality:
In preparation for the next day's work, a clean-up crew was using a high pressure water hose to clean machines in a feather picking room. One of the two employees was preparing to wash down a feather picking machine, and the other was washing down a scalder machine. The first employee cranked open his machine to get inside and wash out feathers that had lodged throughout the machine during the feather picking process. Electric cords were pinched between the metal crank and the metal frame of this machine, and the insulation on the cords was pierced. As a result, an energized conductor was contacting the metal frame of the machine. Because the machine was turned off at the time, the employees were unaware of the condition of the cord. The first employee then moved between the two machines to begin the wash down. When he contacted the energized machine frame, he was electrocuted. His coworker received an electric shock when he tried to pull the first employee from the area. The second employee was hospitalized for his injury.


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