201737 Crew member loses part of thumb by ignoring LOTO

21 Apr 2017 MARS

A lone crew member was about to do some maintenance on a ventilation duct fire closure for the hold. As he started to open the ventilation door the cargo hold ventilators were switched on by someone else in another location. This caused the ventilation door to suddenly be sucked closed. The crew member’s thumb was trapped between the handle of the cleat and the door frame causing the thumb to be severed above the first joint.

Lessons learned:

  • Always lock out, tag out (LOTO) before attempting a job. LOTO, in this instance, may not be self evident but any job that risks a potential release of energy should be LOTO.
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