Huntington Ingalls Industries

Incident Narrative

An employee was welding in a submarine s sail area. The lookout area of the sail has two large hatch doors with mechanisms on both sides that can latch and lock onto the top when closed. The hatch doors are also usually spring-loaded to prevent them from falling abruptly. Neither door has the latches installed, and the starboard door s spring was not installed to the foundation. The starboard door was raised to the closed position, with the employee working underneath. At approximately 9:20 AM, the employee completed his weld and called his supervisor over for inspection. When his supervisor began to step down into the work area from the port side, the starboard hatch door fell, striking the employee in the head and face and pinning his head between the ship s foundation and the door itself. He suffered blunt force trauma to his head and face, requiring hospitalization.