Inspection Detail

Inspection: 314229469 - Ward Trucking Llc

Inspection Information - Office: Osha Philadelphia Area Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 3:30 p.m. on August 5, 2010, Employee #1, a truck driver, was delivering a 255 pound pallet, containing of 30 rolls of gummed paper to a business that operated out of a single family, private residence. The pallet and its contents were shrink-wrapped. With Employee #1's tractor trailer truck parked on the street in from of the private residence, he used a Palletsmith hand-pallet jack, Model Number PS2748, Serial Number PS 2748PS0026-10, to transport the pallet from the bed of the truck to the garage of the residence. The driveway measured approximately 120 feet long by 10.8 feet wide and was sloped down toward the garage at an approximate 11-degree slope. While he was walking backwards to pull the load down the steep driveway of the residence, he lost control of the pallet jack. He turned the pallet jack's wheels to slow it down; however, when this did not work he jumped onto the grass to avoid getting run over by the pallet jack. Employee #1 struck his head and elbow, and twisted his left ankle in the fall. Despite the injuries received, Employee #1 completed the rest of his assigned pick-ups and returned to the service center. An incident report was not completed. The following morning, at his home, Employee #1 was discovered unconscious by his girlfriend, who immediately contacted emergency services. Employee #1 was taken to the Cooper University Hospital Trauma Center, where he died due to a subdural hematoma caused by the head trauma he suffered.

Keywords: HEAD, UNCONSCIOUSNESS, STRUCK AGAINST, MANUAL MAT HANDLING, TRUCK DRIVER