The following documents are actual investigations conducted by OSHA.
They remind us of how dangerous our industry can be.
| 1/25/2010 | H.D. Supply, La Habra, CA | Worker was standing beside his truck preparing to strap down a load of steel sprinkler pipe bundles, when a forklift operator loading bundles on the left side of the truck bed inadvertently knocked a bundle off the truck bed. The bundle struck the driver knocking him to the ground. He was transported to the hospital where he died later from internal injuries. |
| 2011 | Hesse Industrial Sales Inc. dba Texas Manufacturing, Houston, TX 77092 | Worker using a forklift to load bundles of sprinkler pipes onto a flatbed trailer was crushed between the delivery truck and trailer after the forklift moved forward. |
Employee #1 was getting a sprinkler pipe to use in the installation of automatic fire sprinklers above a permanent metal grate type floor. He fell 95 ft to the ground floor through a 2 ft by 3 ft opening. The opening had been covered by an unsecured piece of 3/4 in. thick plywood, 4 ft by 3 ft. Employee #1 died of multiple trauma.
Fresno, CA 93650 Worker had been cleaning out a trench to install sprinkler lines and was later found unresponsive. Death under investigation.
At 9:00 p.m. on December 7, 2000, Employee #1 hurt his right foot and was in the hospital for 14 days. Employee #1 is a service technician for the American Fire Safety Company. Employee #1 was changing a nozzle on a fire sprinkler, using a six-foot stepladder to get approximately three feet high. The sprinkler was over a deep fat fryer. Employee #1 put his right foot on the lip of the deep fat fryer. As he turned to get to the nozzle, his right foot slipped into the hot grease of the deep fat fryer. The fryer is on wheels and was not moved, nor was there a cover put over the hot fat fryer. Employee 1 was hospitalized for burns.
At approximately 10:00 a.m. on August 21, 2003, a fire sprinkler fitter was working on the construction site of a new, four-story, multi-family assisted living residence. He was cutting a downcomer to the proper length in a mechanical unit closet in Room 305 in Building B. He was standing on the third step of a 6-foot high FRP step ladder. The ladder had been purchase one week prior. The employee stated that due to the size of the closet, he did not fully open the step ladder and the spreaders were not locked. The floor of the closet was approximately 8 inches higher that the surrounding floor and it is suspected that two of the legs of the ladder slipped off the closet floor. As a result, the employee fell off the ladder. The employee was hospitalized and required surgery on his neck, including having a metal plate inserted into his neck and back.
Employees #1 and #2 were starting a nitrogen test of a fire sprinkler in a private home. They had applied nitrogen to the system when one of the brass check valves failed, causing the valve head to fly out. Employee #1 sustained abdominal contusions and Employee #2 sustained facial lacerations. Both were treated and released.