Abstract: At approximately mid-afternoon on August 2, 1994, Employee #1, a day worker, unloaded three child amusement airplane rides from a flatbed tractor trailer in order for them to be field assembled for the forthcoming state fair. The flatbed trailer had vertical gates/racks on the left side of the higher/forward portion of the trailer to retain the rides during highway transit. The forward area of the trailer is 49 1/2 inches off the ground. The two adjacent gates/racks were hinged at the trailer's edge. These gates are held in the vertical position by a single pin, which is horizontally inserted through a keeper and retainer key arrangement. When unpinned they swing out and down horizontally. The larger forward gate/rack is 48 inches high by 138 inches long and is made up of a frame perimeter with spaced vertical members. The stock of these gates/racks is made entirely of 2 inch square steel channel with an estimated weight of 350 pounds for the larger gate/rack, which is pinned at the right side only. There were no eyewitnesses to the event. The foreman and coworkers in the area surmise that Employee #1 was attempting to ascend to the floor of the trailer by grabbing one of the vertical members of the larger gate/rack and pulling himself upward when the unsecured gate/rack fell from its vertical position to a horizontal, downward-inclined position, striking Employee #1 in the mouth and fracturing his right and left jaw. Employee #1 was immediately hospitalized, became comatose, and died at the hospital on August 8, 1994 of a blood clot in the carotid artery. The trailer was made by A. Zamperla (Parsippany, New Jersey) VIN #ZA9T6b4X4G1ZA9703, serial #101-8675, and had been sold to the employer in March of 1986. Preliminary disclosures indicate that the original trailer appurtenances did not include the present gate/rack configuration. Poor gate/rack design, and the lack of redundant safety features were the primary contributing factors. A drug and alcohol screen was positive for cocaine and barbiturates and detected an alcohol level of less than 0.01.