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JICOSH Home > Case Studies > Case No.105
Case No.105

A worker is caught in forklift mast during work to repair shutter in a warehouse
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[Description of the Accident]

A worker is caught between the mast and head guard of a forklift in a warehouse. While the day of the accident was a Sunday, the victim and an employee of the equipment vendor had been carrying out repair work on a wrapping machine in the factory from that morning. When they reached a point where the work could be temporarily stopped, the victim went alone to the product warehouse that was adjacent to the factory.

A short time later, the employee of the equipment vendor found the forklift with the engine running and standing unattended under the shutter take-up machine at the entrance of the product warehouse.

He thought that something was wrong and approached the machine, only to find the victim seated facing forward on the instrument panel and in an unconscious condition, with his face turned towards the left and his head caught between the projecting portion of the mast and the head guard of the operator's seat.
[Causes supposed]

1. The victim, who had been operating the forklift, left the engine running while he was trying to climb up onto the pallet through the space between the mast and the head guard of the operator's seat. Part of his body evidently touched the operating lever for controlling the mast, causing the mast to tilt.

2. The person in charge of technology and engineering was the only person exposed to this danger, and there were many cases in which the victim worked alone in carrying out such tasks as repairing production facilities, etc.
[Type of business] Plastics product manufacturing
[Caused by] Forklift
[Type of accident] Caught in
[Number of victims] One fatality


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