Thursday, September 09, 2010 Page 1
Recordable Injuries for August 2010
An AD RF Dept. employee had a particle enter his eye while he was walking along an aisle way in the MI60 RF Gallery. There are numerous relay racks with exhaust fans mounted on them in the RF Gallery and the fans are directed toward the aisle way where the employee was walking. The typical fan height is 70 inches above the floor. The particle that entered his eye most likely was blown by one of these fans. The employee went to the Medical Office were the particle was flushed from his eye and he was given prescription antibiotic eye drops. He returned to work without
- restrictions. Medical personnel could not identify the particle that was flushed from
the eye, though they did state that the particle was blue in color. Portions of the relay rack surfaces are painted blue, so the particle could have been a very small chip of paint but investigators could not identify the source of the particle. The inside spaces of the racks in the area were inspected and found to be clean and no loose paint was found. A cable tray runs above the racks and it is possible that the particle fell from the tray and was entrained in the air flow from the fans and then entered the employee's eye. No one was working in or on the racks or the cable tray at the time the incident occurred. The laboratory has hundreds of racks with rear mounted cooling fans, such as the ones in the RF Gallery. No record could be found
- f any prior incidents where a rack fan blew a particle into an individual’s eye.