Incident date: 2022-03-09
NAICS industry code: 424690

An employee was operating a forklift to lift a 4 x 4 cube/tote that contained 3,828 lbs. of sodium hydroxide approximately seven feet in the air to transfer 319 lbs. into another empty tote located below the tote the employee had arranged on the forklift. The load was on the forks of the forklift suspended in the air when the forks on the lift began to creak. A second employee got on the lift to lower the forks with the suspended load. The forks began to fail due to a hydraulic leak as the load was lowering and the load slid off of the forks. The injured employee was standing at the scale area in front of the load when it slipped off of the forks and he sustained chemical burns to his face when the load fell and sodium hydroxide splashed onto his face.

Hazard classification:
code_event: title: Exposure through intact skin, eyes, or other exposed tissue
code_source: title: Sodium and potassium hydroxide, potassium carbonate
code_nature: title: Chemical burns and corrosions, unspecified
code_body: title: Nonclassifiable
severity: moderate