A cleanup person was instructed by his foreman to do the cleanup of a conveyor area jammed with debris. This involved loading the debris onto the conveyor, running it until it was clean, shutting it off, shoveling debris onto it again, running it until it was clean, shutting it off, loading it, then repeating the process until the debris was gone.

The foreman later noticed the conveyor running free without any debris, so he went to investigate. He found the worker caught in the conveyor. The foreman immediately shut the conveyor off and called for help.

There was no sign of life in the worker and it took some time to release him from the rollers. His right arm was under his body and caught in the tailspool; his left arm crossed his body and was between the other roller and the belt. His shirt was wrapped around a spool and his glove was found in the second roll around the same spool.

Investigation revealed that it was likely the worker left the conveyor running instead of following the correct safe operating procedure of shutting off the conveyor belt while shoveling debris onto it.

His loose fitting football jersey caught between the belt and the tailspool and he reached with his hand to pull it out. His arm was then pulled under the spool, he was flung forward and hit his head, resulting in death.

Several factors contributed to the death of this worker. One was failing to follow safety instructions. The other was the loose fitting football jersey he was wearing. Unfortunately it took the death of this worker for this company to initiate rules against wearing loose clothing throughout this plant.

Procedures for working safely around machinery are in place for your protection. The rules against wearing loose-fitting clothing, unrestrained long hair or jewelry are there to prevents incidents like this one.