NASA-LLIS-0940

Abstract

<strong>Description of Driving Event:</strong> <br>An engineering technician was standing on a temporary platform located between the guardrails of the 3rd floor and the exterior surface of the test section plenum. The platform did not inlcude guardrails or other fall restraint devices. The technician was threading a pipe assembly into a blind flange. The pipe assembly was necessary to route test-dependent instrumentation wiring out of the plenum. While tightening the pipe assembly, the open-ended adjustable wrench he was using slipped off the pipe. This caused him to lose his balance and fall onto the curved exterior of the plenum at the 3rd floor level. He slid down the plenum surface approximately 25 feet to a metal obscuration platform located 40 inches below the surface of the 2nd level. The technician sustained a fractured left scapula, a severe laceration of his scalp, and a minor concussion. This injury resulted in several days away from work. Medical assistance was provided in a very timely and effective manner by coworkers and medical personnel. This mishap occurred on December 14th, 2000. A mishap investigation board began it's investigation of this mishap on December 15, 2000.