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JICOSH Home > Case Studies > Case No.110
Case No.110

A worker is caught by a rotary panel during cleaning work near a machine that manufactures exterior wall materials for residential use
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[Description of the Accident]

This accident took place during floor cleaning work for a machine that automatically rotates from front to back the exterior wall materials for residential use.

This workplace carries out the production and processing of exterior wall materials for residences, and the victim was working in the section that assembles exterior flat-panel pieces and exterior square-panel pieces, where he usually was engaged in work to assist in the piling up of completed panels.

At the morning meeting on the day of the accident, the foreman issued instructions to stop the line operations in order to carry out work to change the layout within the factory, and for team members to work with other teams. The victim was assigned to a team that salvages unfinished goods that are removed as defective goods during product assembling, and to redo them as completed products.

At around 3:00 PM, a worker noticed that a rotation machine in the assembly line for exterior walls was making clattering noise. He stopped the operation of the rotation machine by pushing the emergency stop button. When he approached the machine, he found the victim caught between a rotary panel of the rotation machine and the floor.
[Causes supposed]

1. Although the operations of the exterior wall assembly line had been stopped, the rotary panel was activated as the switch was set to ON.

2. The victim had not carried out cleaning work around the rotation machine before, and nobody had given him instructions to do so.

3. No measures such as setting off-limit zones by fencing, etc., had been taken to prevent exposure to the hazards of automated machines.


[Type of business] Plywood manufacturing
[Caused by] Other equipment/facility
[Type of accident] Caught in
[Number of victims] One fatality


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