Alert 02 – 42 Material Handling Incident
Alert 02 – 42 Material Handling Incident
WHAT HAPPENED:
An employee had his left middle finger caught between a connecting rod and the body of a power pack for a diesel engine. The power pack was lying on the engine grating walkway and was being moved from the grating walkway platform to the main deck. The 400-pound power pack was pushed along the floor by two men using their feet to move the power pack approximately 15 feet towards a hatch opening to the main deck. At the opening for the watertight door both men attempted to physically pick up the power pack and lift it approximately 7 inches over the hatchway opening. One of the employees decided to lift the power pack by placing both hands inside the body of the cylinder head. On previous lifts he had placed his hand on the connecting rod of the power pack. He changed his hand position because the connecting rod
was turning in a circular fashion making it difficult to control the load. As the men were going through the door, the piston body cleared the 7-inch rise but when the men lowered the piston body the rod caught on the hatch opening catching the employee’s left middle finger between the rod and the body of the power pack.